
Class 5:111. 

Book ^ 9_ A^ 

Copyright N^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




MATHAMiEL M. AYERS 



BUILDING A NEW 
EMPIRE 

By 

NATHANIEL M. AYERS 



A Historical Story of the Settlement of the Wild West. 
Taking Up the Wild Scenes Incident to the Settlement 
Of a Country Inhabited By Buffalo and Hostile Indians. 



Dedicated to the Nebraska State Historical Society 




BROADWAY PUBLISHING CO. 

835 Broadway, New York 

BRANCH OFFICESt CHICAGO. WASHINGTON. BALTIMORE. 
ATLANTA. NORFOLK. FLORENCE. ALA. 






Copyright, 1910, 

By 

NATHANIEL M. AYERS. 



C.CI.A278544 



i^ 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 




PAGE 


I. 


The Decision .... 


7 


11. 


Going West .... 


• 13 


III. 


The Stockade .... 


. 30 


IV. 


Claims Located — the Missouri 






Preacher .... 


. 41 


V. 


Matlax, the Trapper . 


. ^5 


VI. 


The Land Office 


. 65 


VII. 


Whistler and Badger Killed . 


. 72 


VIII. 


Organizing the County 


. 88 


IX. 


Wild Horses .... 


. 103 


X. 


Hitchcock County and the Irish 






Landlord .... 


. 117 


XI. 


General Election and More Prairie 






Fires 


• 135 


XII. 


More Grasshoppers . 


. 148 


XIII. 


Grasshoppers Destroyed — More 






Trouble for the Homesteaders 


. 173 



XIV. The Revival and the Penitentiary 183 



PREFACE. 

The story of "Building a New Empire" is not a 
story conceived in the vivid imagination of the author, 
or wrought from the wild scenes of the growing West 
in fiction or by inspiration, but a story of actual ex- 
perience in making a new West, and the memory of 
the events of those trying times has led up to writing 
this manuscript. 

In general conversation these events have been re- 
lated many times, and editors have asked for historical 
events to be written for publication, and the writer 
has been urged to put these actual facts in book form, 
so the conditions existing in the early days in the 
settlement of the "New Empire" might be known to 
the younger generations coming on to occupy the 
country so recently wrested from the wild man of the 
plains. 

The writer had expected to receive assistance from 
the few old settlers still living, and who had witnessed 
the meteoric changes in the West in the past thirty- 
five or forty years, but none could be found that could 
give additional facts or evidence of value. Many who 
passed through the wild scenes of the West could not 
be located, and those that could be found could give 
but very few reliable facts of value to add to the cir- 
cumstances related, so the memory of one man is 
largely in evidence in writing a historical sketch of 
the last "new West." In some instances fictitious 
names have been used to represent the real characters, 
or the letters transposed, but when actual history is 



preface 

recorded, as in state and county officers the actual 
names of the parties are in evidence. 

The purpose of this work is to put in the hands of 
the reading pubHc the experience and hardships, and 
the stirring scenes of the actual settlers on the fron- 
tier of the new West, who with the aid of the soldier, 
the scout, the hunter, civilized the last frontier of 
this great Nation. 

Should any gifted writer in future years draw in- 
spiration from this work to glowingly put in prose or 
poetry the stirring scenes of taming the wild West, 
my labor will not have been in vain. 

The Author. 



BUILDING A NEW EMPIRE. 

CHAPTER I. 
The Decision. 

At Waukula, Iowa, in the winter of i87i-'72, a 
young man was clerking in a grocery store, and as 
a side issue, was buying produce, poultry, and game, 
with the division of profits on the produce deals, as a 
part of his salary. Like many other young men of 
the time, he had a very lucrative position, yet but 
little could be saved from the salary received, and the 
profits on the poultry and produce investments as a 
side line. 

The proprietor was a genial fellow and a good 
business man, and often took into his confidence his 
clerk on various matters relative to the business; 
and in like manner the clerk consulted his employer 
as to his future plans. Tan Myers was the clerk, and 
while he was raised on a farm, and had received only 
a very ordinary common school education, he was 
agreeable to the patrons of the store, but longed for 
something diflferent, and wished for the time that he 
might do business for himself and be proprietor, 
rather than clerk; so after thinking the matter over 
and consulting by correspondence with friends and 
relatives at the town of Manchester, fifty miles dis- 
tant, he had about concluded that he ought to go 
West, obeying the edict of Horace Greeley, and 
"grow up with the country," although he had a very 
good position and two other places had been ofifered 
him on a salary, one of which was to act as a solicitor 



IBuilDing a i^eUj dBmpite 

for a Chicago commission house, all of which he was 
carefully considering; but after reading up on the 
natural resources of the great West, its possible out- 
come and the probable growth of a new country, he 
had concluded to mention the matter to Mr. Burkee, 
the proprietor. 

He had heard old men talk of this and other coun- 
tries when new, men who had seen a prosperous State 
made from a country almost unknown to civilization in 
their time, so why should not he realize the benefits of 
helping to make a civilized country of a plain or a 
wilderness? 

After dinner one day, while the snow was falling 
and but few customers were coming and going, Tan 
nerved himself up to the emergency of the case and 
candidly informed Mr. Burkee that he was contem- 
plating giving up the place in the store, and going 
West in the early spring, to take up a homestead and 
make a new start in the wilds of the West. 

The first question was : "Where do you expect to 
go, and what part of the West do you contemplate 
locating ?" 

"Well, Mr. Burkee, I have been reading up on Da- 
kota, Kansas and Nebraska," replied Tan, "and from 
what I have been able to learn from the information 
at hand, I believe Nebraska to be the best for a 
young man, everything considered, the climate being 
a happy medium between Kansas and Dakota, and all 
things considered, Nebraska, I believe, has the best 
future before it than any other portion of the West 
now being opened to settlement ; besides I have many 
friends who have gone there, and others of my best 
friends are going to Nebraska in the coming spring 
and summer." 

"But," replied Mr. Burkee, "Nebraska is right now 

8 



'BuilDing a n^eto Cmpite 

in the midst of a political turmoil ; their legislature is 
in session, and fraud and corruption are reported from 
every direction, especially in the removal of the Capi- 
tol from Omaha to Lincoln, and the location of many 
of the State institutions at the new Capitol. The 
officials and many outsiders are accused of graft in the 
location of the Capitol, and the cry of fraud can be 
heard from every direction ; and the papers are full 
of scandal from the new capitol of Nebraska ; and 
there must be some truth in the reports, for the legis- 
lature has already impeached the governor, and re- 
ports say that many indictments will follow in the near 
future. There seems to be such a political crisis in 
Nebraska at the present time that it may take the 
State years to recover from the effects of the condi- 
tions existing there at the present time. There are 
also other conditions existing there that are 
detrimental to the future welfare and prosperity 
of the State; a portion of the State appeared 
on the old maps as the Great American Desert, and is 
said to be very sandy, while a portion of the State is 
said to have a very good soil, but they are troubled 
with drouth, and the lack of rain back fifty or one 
hundred miles from the Missouri River, makes the 
country worthless as an agricultural country, and it is 
claimed that a white man cannot exist there, and that 
the country is covered with hostile Indians and buffalo, 
and a white man is liable to have his scalp raised at 
any time that he sees fit to venture far beyond the 
Missouri River. 

"A hunting party is sometimes made up in the East 
or in Europe to go to Nebraska on a hunting expedi- 
tion, but such parties ask the United States Govern- 
ment to furnish them soldiers for protection, as in the 
case of the Grand Duke Alexis, who is now out on the 



'BuilUfitg a il3eto €mpfte 

Republican River hunting, south of North Platte, with 
two companies of cavalry. 'Buffalo Bill,' Jack Stil- 
well, and Charlie Meadows ('Buckskin Charlie'), 
three of the Government's most daring and trusted 
scouts as guides and protectors until the party return 
to civilization ; and you have a desire to go to a coun- 
try like that?" 

"Perhaps not to the wildest portion of the State, but 
far enough West to secure a desirable location, where 
there is good water and some timber, with the prospect 
of having a good town near us as the country grows. 
All new States have had their troubles, and many of 
them have been condemned as worthless, and the hos- 
tile tribes of Indians have caused trouble to frontier 
settlers, all the way from Plymouth Rock and Man- 
hattan West, as far as the white man has ventured to 
make a settlement ; and it was but a few years ago the 
Minnesota massacre occurred, yet Minnesota to-day is 
a prosperous State, and the terrible massacre of its 
people by a hostile band of Indians is only known as 
a matter of history ; and as to political affairs in Ne- 
braska, they are no worse than in some of the older 
States, and no doubt some of the political grafters in 
the new State have graduated in the art in some of the 
older States ; and history will bear me out in the fact 
that all our States, Territories and Colonies, have had 
their political troubles. Even the original thirteen 
colonies had their political broils at home, besides the 
trouble with the Mother Country, and the political 
strifes and contentions have been brought down to our 
own generation. Look, for instance, at the new State 
of Kansas, the twenty-first State in the Union, had 
one of the greatest political uprisings on the question of 
slavery known to any State in the Union. Beginning 
as early as 1854, when the slave owners made a vigor- 

10 



'Building a Ji^eto OBmpire 

ous attempt to control its political destiny while the 
energy of the friends of freedom were just as vindic- 
tive for the control of the new territory, and the con- 
test between the two factions became so marked that 
the contest eventually resulted in the overthrow of 
slavery in the United States, and the State of 
Kansas was styled as the home of the 'Border ruf- 
fian,' yet Kansas to-day is fast becoming a prosperous 
State, with the white man making homes well toward 
the western border of the State, although at one time 
it was only considered good for the Indian and buf- 
falo. And in the year 1857 an appeal went forth to 
the benevolent people of the country for food and 
clothing, for the drouth sufferers of Kansas, who at 
that time only occupied a few of the eastern counties 
of the territory, and yet with all its trials and ad- 
versities, it is to-day a prosperous State, and you and 
I can remember when we began the study of geogra- 
phy, the whole of that country east of the Rocky 
Mountains, way past the one hundredth meridian, was 
called the Great American Desert. 

"But the United States Government in 1848 sent 
Captain John C. Fremont across this vast plain, cross- 
ing the Smoky Hill Fork, the Solomon, Prairie Dog, 
Beaver, and the Republican, among millions of buffalo 
and other wild game, with an occasional skirmish with 
a hostile band of Indians, and this was followed by 
other investigations, till within the past two years, the 
whole of western Kansas and Nebraska, to the Colo- 
rado line, has been surveyed, and will, in the near fu- 
ture, be thrown open to settlement for agricultural 
purposes; and I am of the opinion that the push and 
energy of the Western emigrant will, in a few years, 
make that short grass country change from a range 
occupied by wild game and herds of wild horses to a 

II 



prosperous farming country. The State is watered by- 
many running rivers and creeks, the longest of which 
is named by the white man the Platte; but the In- 
dians called it the Nebraska, meaning 'shallow water.' 
The elevations range from eight hundred and seventy- 
five feet, on the eastern border, to six thousand feet in 
the extreme west above sea level, and the rainfall is 
from thirty-five inches in the east to sixteen in the 
extreme west annually, and this will increase with the 
cultivation of the soil. The winters are usually open, 
with little snow, and I am informed that cattle and 
horses will winter in the central southern portions of 
the State with but little or no grain, living entirely 
on the nutritious buffalo grass ; and in view of the 
natural resources of that vast territory and the quan- 
tity and quality of Eastern emigration heading that 
way, that a homestead in that new country will in time 
be valuable." 

"But remember. Tan, that in going to that new 
country, the hardships that must be endured, the 
amount of labor necessary to make a home, being 
deprived of good society, with no church, schools, or 
lodges, and in place of attending church or your 
favorite lodge, you will perhaps be permitted to visit 
an Indian village, witness a war dance, entertain a 
few Government scouts, or join in a buffalo chase, in 
place of enjoying the advantages of civilization ; and 
the young lady you seem devoted to would hardly 
care to give up a place as teacher in the city schools 
to live in a sod or log house on a homestead in the 
desert, far away from civilization and the city home 
she now enjoys. 

"The Government fees for taking a homestead is 
fourteen dollars, and it is simply a bet. The Govern- 
ment wagers one hundred and sixty acres of public 

12 



ISuilding a il3eto OBmpite 

domain against the fee that you cannot live on the 
land five years and make the necessary improvements 
to obtain title ; and here is Mr. Rice, who married the 
lady of his choice, just after the Chicago fire, in a 
calico dress, the only one she escaped with, from that 
dreadful catastrophe, and who, but yesterday, oflfered 
you a salary of one thousand a year, with all expenses 
paid for one-half the year you were to travel on the 
road, and I am really surprised that you would turn 
down a position of that kind in the busy commercial 
scenes of civilization, to a wild life on the frontier 
with a very uncertain prospect of future prosperity, 
and the known disadvantages of the frontier to con- 
tend with." 

"Well, Mr. Burkee, there is something in the wild 
life that is fascinating, at least in imagination, and I 
have thought for some time that I would like to try it, 
and if it is agreeable to you, I will make arrange- 
ments to go in the early spring; and if you will have 
a man to take my place on March first I will quit 
the store then, and get my outfit ready to start as soon 
as the weather warms and the grass gets a start so 
the stock can graze on the prairies as we travel to 
the Southwest." 

CHAPTER II. 

Going West. 

Trecking over the Iowa prairies in early spring 
could be seen several wagons with white canvas cov- 
ers, some drawn by horses, while others were drawn 
by oxen, and all loaded with provisions, clothing, bed- 
ding, and the necessary mechanical tools and farm im- 
plements with which to begin the necessary work of 

13 



IBuilDing a J3eto OBmpire 

the pioneer settlers on the extreme border of civiliza- 
tion. The first day out found half the wagons swamped 
in some of the Iowa sloughs familiar to the traveling 
public at that time ; but by hitching on an extra team 
or two to the mired wagon, and perhaps a pry with a 
rail or long pole used as a lever, the wagon was 
again pulled out of the mire and placed on firmer 
ground. But this was only the beginning of the 
trials in store for the little party of pioneers seeking 
homes in the far West. Day after day this experience 
was repeated, and one Saturday, after traveling in 
the rain a part of the forenoon, word was passed along 
the line that Tan had a "chill," and one of the party 
driving the loose cattle came to his wagon and drove 
the team till a stop could be made. Tan laid down in 
the wagon with his "chill" for company until that 
passed off, and a burning fever took its place and re- 
mained with him until a favorable camp ground was 
reached to remain over Sunday. One of the good 
women of the party had provided a quantity of medi- 
cine for the journey, and had generously administered 
large doses to the ague patient, which, with the shaking 
of the wagon, had produced what on the water would 
have been called sea sickness ; and everything that was 
loose he disposed of in artistic manner, which left him 
weak and trembling with an empty stomach, and he 
was really glad his friend Burkee or his best girl could 
not see him in this condition, yet he would have en- 
joyed their sympathy under different circumstances. 
But Sunday's rest, with the result of the prescription 
taken, cured the patient, and Monday morning found 
him quite weak in body, but ready for another move 
toward the wild West. Thus, day after day, the effort 
continued, some days through mud and rain, and 
others were bright with sunshine, and the ardor of the 

14 




w 

S 
O 

ft- 



Q 

H 

H 

O 
H 

H 

CO 

W 



o 



^ 

^ 









8 



'BullHing a iBetai €mpxte 

members of the party still buoyed up with the hope of 
making a home in the West. Getting swamped in the 
Iowa sloughs, or to double team up a long, steep hill, 
did not seem to discourage a single man of the party, 
but all pushed anxiously forward to the West. To 
queries asked by passersby, and to those with whom 
we talked by the wayside, were all given the same 
answers as to our destination being Nebraska, and one 
of the party, to more fully express his enthusiasm, had 
painted on his wagon cover "Nebraska or bust," while 
another more inclined to morality, and who was ad- 
vocating the new motto for the American dollar, which 
was much talked of at the time, had painted in big 
letters on the side of his wagon cover "In God We 
Trust." We stopped at Des Moines, the capitol of 
the State, and viewed with admiration the beauties of 
the city which one of our party had seen in the winter 
of i865-'66, when there was not a railroad in sight, 
and but little else, except an inland town with a State 
capitol to be reached only by your own conveyance 
or a stage coach. But in six years it had increased in 
population, until it had nearly six thousand people, 
and boasted of having two railroads running through 
the city limits, which gave to our party evidence of the 
possibilities of development in the West, and still more 
hope for the future. 

At this point we crossed the Des Moines and the 
Coon rivers, moving along in a westerly direction, 
camping at night where water and fuel were plentiful, 
and grazing for the live stock was excellent, nothing 
of importance occurring to mar the pleasure of our 
overland journey. Every day our hunters who were 
practising for big game, brought in prairie chickens, 
quail and rabbits, and while these were being eaten 
as we sat round the campfires, many were the com- 

15 



'BuilDing a ii^eto OBmpire 

ments on the prospects of big game to be slaughtered 
on the plains, which we hoped to see in the near 
future. 

The heavy continued rains of the past week had 
made the Missouri River bottom, on the Iowa side, 
almost impassable, and more than a whole day's time 
was taken up in reaching the river from the bluffs, 
after which the river was crossed at Plattsmouth, 
where the Burlington railroad system had located their 
shops for the Nebraska division. This was then a 
rival of Omaha for commercial supremacy, and the 
Burlington system were laying their plans to make 
Plattsmouth the metropolis of the State, diverting all 
traffic for the southwest through Plattsmouth, and 
allowing nothing to go through Omaha that could 
possibly be turned in this direction. 

Here the rains had ceased, the air was pure and 
healthful, vegetation in abundance, and the people 
of the new State seemed to be wearing a smile of 
contentment and prosperity, peculiar to any prosper- 
ous country. 

Here we met a large number of teams with covered 
wagons headed for the Republican Valley, and other 
parts of the new West. Here we also met men promi- 
nent in the State, advertising a new town out in the 
valley situated in what was destined to be the center 
of James County, Nebraska ; at least that was the 
statement made by Captain Murphy, who introduced 
himself to Tan, who seemed to be the spokesman of 
the party. Tan called the Captain's attention to the 
fact that the counties east of this new territory (which 
as yet was unorganized), were twenty- four miles 
square, and if this new county was organized in size 
the same as those directly east, would put their new 
town of Arapahoe near the north line of the county, 

16 



'BuilDing a Beto OBmpire 

and a town would be started on the north Sappa, in 
or near the center of the county which would also bid 
for the county seat. 

"But, young man," retorted the Captain, "we are a 
strong company, with plenty of capital and political 
influence sufficient to organize the county as we want 
it. One of our party was formerly Secretary of State, 
and I was Captain in an Iowa cavalry regiment during 
the war, and have been on the frontier fighting In- 
dians most of the time since the war closed. We will 
go to the legislature during their session next win- 
ter, and with the influence and capital at our com- 
mand will have the county organized thirty miles 
square, which will place our town near the center. 
We will then elect and control the county officers, who 
will declare Arapahoe the county seat, and this will 
lay the foundation for the best town in that part of 
the valley. We already have a store started there 
by Messrs. Love and Colvin, who went from here, 
and they have sent in a petition for a post office, ask- 
ing that the mail route from Red Cloud be extended 
on west to Arapahoe, and these things will give us the 
advantage of any rivals that might spring up else- 
where. Our political influence will be of great value 
to us in many ways, and especially when it comes to 
the organization of the county, and we would like for 
your party to locate with us and help build up the 
country." 

"Your plans, Captain, have no doubt been care- 
fully laid with a view of executing them without oppo- 
sition, but there are other things to be considered. 
I have a map here showing the lay of the territory 
out there and if a county is organized, as you sug- 
gest, it will leave but three townships north of James 
County, to the organized territory north, which is only 

17, 



OBuilDing a H^eto OBmpire 

eighteen miles, and the legislature will not make one 
county thirty miles broad and the next one eighteen 
to accommodate a few politicians or to gratify the 
desires of a townsite company. These counties are 
usually organized for all the people and not for the 
exclusive benefit of a select few. All United States 
townships, unless fractions are six miles square, and 
counties are usually made four townships, or twenty- 
four miles square, and you and your company must 
wield a powerful influence in this new State to be 
able to overcome these advantages in the natural 
course of organizing counties. You will also see that 
the south Sappa, north Sappa, and the Republican run 
parallel from west to east, through this unorganized 
territory, and if this new county should be organized 
uniform with the counties east, leaving room for an- 
other county between this and the Platte River, it 
must of necessity be twenty-four miles square, or at 
least twenty-four miles north and south, so your 
theory looks wrong, and your town would look bet- 
ter to me if it were on the north Sappa, the lay of the 
country and the natural advantages being equal." 

"Yet you must remember that we are the first on 
the ground, and in this we will take every possible 
advantage, besides we have the capital, and the political 
influence which we will use to the limit, and we are 
bound to win." 

At this point our party was ready to move, and 
we again started for the great West. That night in 
camp our maps were brought out and the situation 
fully discussed by all members of the party, and the 
conversation with the Captain fully canvassed, but at 
this time we were headed for Red Cloud and hardly 
had expected to go as far West as the original un- 
organized county of James, but our party were eager 

i8 



IBuilhim a ^^to dBmpite 

for all the information that could be had relative 
to the new country, some part of which was to be their 
future home. We now moved leisurely toward the 
new capital of the new State. Lincoln, the new capital 
was now four years old, and was quite a flourishing 
young city with two railroads and the prospects favor- 
able for a third road. A small stone building was 
used for a penitentiary, that accommodated the few 
prisoners confined there at the time. The insane asy- 
lum was also a small affair, and contained but few 
patients, and the State capitol building was of small 
proportions. The State buildings were all being en- 
larged and the young city was growing rapidly. We 
camped here one day and one of our party had a watch 
that refused to keep time, although frequently shaken 
and the hands repeatedly turned it would not respond 
with a single tick, and positively refused to run. The 
jewelry shop of J. B. Trixley was visited. The jew- 
eler wound up the watch and off it started, but the 
jeweler insisted that the watch was very dirty and 
needed cleaning, and that seemed to be the only 
trouble, but the owner knew it had been cleaned by a 
reliable jeweler not more than thirty days previous, 
and took his watch and went on his way rejoicing, 
knowing now that he had simply failed to wind up his 
watch and this was why it had refused to run. Out 
on Salt Creek, near Lincoln, over the little band of 
homeseekers that night came howling across that vast 
extent of prairie a thunder storm of mighty propor- 
tions, accompanied by a terrific wind, and violent peals 
of thunder that was awful to behold, even by those 
who were protected by substantial buildings from the 
terrors of this awful storm, and when the rain came, 
it came in torrents seldom witnessed by human beings. 
The terrors of the storm were appalling in the extreme. 

19 



'BuilDing a jfi^eto OBmpfre 

The rain drifted through the heavy canvas wagon 
covers as though they were made of cheesecloth, and 
the contents of the wagons were almost as thoroughly 
soaked with water as if they had been left out in 
the rain with no protection whatever; and the party 
found it necessary to devote the next day to drying 
the contents of the wagons in the bright sunshine fol- 
lowing the rain. The party had now had the ex- 
perience of a Western storm which, in velocity, had 
almost assumed the dimensions of a tornado or a 
cyclone ; and as we advanced on our journey we found 
the storm to have been quite general, and about the 
little town of Crete we found much wreckage, denot- 
ing that the storm had been even more severe there 
than on the Salt Creek flats, wrecking many small 
houses and temporary buildings over the prairies 
and scattering fragments in every direction. Over 
the prairies we continued our journey, camping at 
night with the blue canopy of heaven covering our 
little camp, while Will, one of our party, and who 
was the anti-secret society member of the party and 
was frequently, in a joking way, telling Tan of the 
sins and wrongs of Masons and members of all secret 
societies. But here Tan explained that in olden times 
Masons met on a high hill or a low vale and their cov- 
ering was the blue heavens above, just as our camp 
was covered that night, and from this had originated 
the term "Blue Lodge Masonry," and that perhaps in 
future ages we might be referred to in history as 
blue-capped emigrants seeking homes in the West. 
Here and there were sod houses scattered over this 
vast prairie, and small towns were springing up 
along the new line of railway now being built to 
Kearney. When the town of Harvard was reached, 
which was then the terminus of the road, we turned 

20 



'BuilDing a K3etti (Bmpitt 

south to Red Cloud on tHe Republican River, a place 
hardly deserving the name of a town, its dimensions 
not being equal to the farm buildings of many of the 
eastern Iowa farmers, but it was a new start in the 
great West and must have a name. At our first camp 
south of Harvard we were given a lesson in the in- 
stincts of dumb animals. Arising early in the morn- 
ing we observed one of the cows coming toward the 
wagons in the little camp seemingly for treatment, 
suffering from a snake bite, with her head and body 
swollen up almost beyond recognition and in great 
agony, but with proper treatment and a half day's 
rest we were again on our journey. This incident is 
mentioned to bring to mind the fact that dumb ani- 
mals will come to their human protectors for assist- 
ance in times of trouble, just as they come home for 
food when hungry, and later in this story will be 
given a case where wild fowl came to a white man 
for protection when assailed by an enemy. Here at 
night we camped on the Little Blue, at the home of a 
noted hunter and frontiersman, who was nicknamed 
"Wild Bill," although not the "Wild Bill" who shot 
and killed the desperadoes on Rock Creek and was 
afterwards city marshal at Abaline, Kansas, and was 
killed by Jack McCall in Deadwood in 1876. Between 
here and Red Cloud we saw the first wild buffalo, but 
too wild to get in shooting distance. We were now 
meeting hunting parties who had been out where buf- 
falo and other wild game and Government land were 
plentiful. Some of these parties were out for a hunt 
and what sport could be had from the trip, while 
others had taken homesteads, and some through idle 
curiosity. We finally reached Red Cloud, a prospec- 
tive town, but at this time had one store and two 
small houses. Guide Rock was a few miles further 

21 



'BuilDittg a JI3ehJ Cmpite 

east, but it was only a small settlement named from 
a point of rocks south of the Republican River, 
named by the Government expeditions who used the 
rocky bluff as a guide, and was thus named "Guide 
Rock" long before it was thought of making this a 
home for actual white settlers. The first settlers 
here at these places had built a stockade in which 
they could protect themselves and families from the 
vicious attacks of hostile tribes of Indians roaming 
over the Western prairies. Two years previous a band 
of Cheyenne Indians had made a raid as far east as 
Fairbury, killing many settlers, carrying off prisoners, 
burning property, and driving off live stock belonging 
to the homesteaders. The Indians saw the white man 
gradually moving further west every year, killing the 
wild game, and crowding the red man further west 
year after year, and through their hostile jealousy 
of civilization would make raids on the settlements as 
they have done ever since the white man came from 
Europe and made settlements on the Atlantic coast, 
and pushed out toward the setting sun. 

Indian massacres have occurred in all our States, 
and many of them within the recollection of our 
oldest citizens; but with all the cunning of these 
aborigines, their savage force, and brutal butchery 
they have been driven to reservations, killed by the 
thousands, and contracting the diseases peculiar to the 
white man, of which they had no knowledge and 
could not cope with their ravages. Countless thou- 
sands have died and yet the savage instinct prevails, 
and butchery is the watchword, and but two years 
previous to these events. Captain Brown and S. J. Al- 
exander with their two companies of State militia, 
assisted by a company of United States cavalry, drove 
from the Blue and the Republican that ravenous band 

22 



'BuilDing a iOetti OBmpite 

of Sioux warriors who were devastating this sparsely 
settled country, and making it desolate, with but few 
living to mourn the loss of friends killed by a mur- 
derous band of rebellious savages. And right here, 
for a moment, let us call to mind the battle of the 
Arickaree in 1868. In September of that year a band 
of Ogalalla Sioux, under Chief Roman Nose, had 
been raiding the settlers in Nebraska and Kansas, 
killing the homesteaders and driving off their stock, 
working mostly on the Solomon and the Republican 
and their tributaries, until an organized effort was 
made to stop these depredations. The Kansas Pacific 
railroad was being built across the Indians' hunting 
ground, and this greatly enraged the hostile Indians, 
and for revenge they had made the effort to kill and 
drive away all white people intruding on their terri- 
tory; and raids were made as far east as Fairbury, 
Nebraska, and Concordia, Kansas, until a volunteer 
company was made up of noted hunters and frontiers- 
men under command of Captain Forsyth, of the 
regular army. This company consisted of fifty-one 
picked men, who had seen service in Indian warfare, 
on the cattle trail, and as Government scouts. This 
little company of picked men were to fight against a 
horde of Indians, and they knew not how many, but 
the trail was taken after a raid made on the Solomon, 
and continued for several days across a country un- 
inhabited; but the trail of the departing Indians was 
easily followed, and as the days passed the trail be- 
came fresher and more plainly visible, till the little 
party came near the Arickaree, the trail was fresh, 
and it was known they were near the hostiles' camp. 
A camp for the night was made, and in the early morn- 
ing every man in the command was in his saddle ready 
for action, but none too soon, for as dawn began to 

23. 



break in the east, Indian activity began to be visible on 
all sides, and hostile signs became more visible as 
dawn advanced, and by sunrise Indians were seen on 
all sides, and the little company of volunteers realized 
that they were surrounded, and the fight they had 
courted was now right at hand. A sand bar in the 
river was near at hand, on which stood one solitary 
Cottonwood tree and a heavy growth of willows, 
A dash was made by the order of Captain Forsyth 
to this little island, which was reached amid a fusil- 
lade of bullets and arrows, and the horses were 
fastened to willows and as speedily as possible sand 
pits were made for the protection of the soldiers, to 
be used as breastworks. The horses were soon killed 
by the Indians, which also were used by the soldiers 
as breastworks, and here for more than a week the 
battle lasted, the soldiers drinking river water and 
eating dead horse flesh, their pack mules having been 
lost when the dash was made to the island. The sol- 
diers had the Spencer rifle, which was a seven-shot 
gun by one loading, and in this they had the advantage 
of the Indian, but the Indians outnumbered them 
twenty to one. Two men were finally detailed to make 
an efifort to get through the lines and get word to Gen- 
eral Phil Sheridan, who had command at Fort Hayes, 
asking for reinforcements. Whether they could get 
through the Indian lines was a problem, and should 
they succeed there was a distance of one hundred 
miles to travel for reinforcements and the same dis- 
tance back. The Indians had in the meantime met 
with such reverses in their attempt to storm the little 
island that a state of siege had been adopted by them, 
and they were quietly waiting to starve out the little 
army holding the island fort. Finally a dark object 
appeared on the horizon after many days of waiting, 

24 



'Building a n^etti OBmpire 

and as it drew nearer it was found to be a battalion 
of cavalry with ambulance waggons, all under the com- 
mand of Colonel Carpenter, who soon put the hostiles 
to flig-ht and rescued the soldiers from their perilous 
experience of more than a week, with a third of their 
party either killed or wounded, and those remaining 
did not know whether their comrades had gotten 
through the lines and reached headquarters or not, 
until the relief party was seen coming to their rescue. 
Many of the party, who were yet alive, were badly 
wounded, Colonel Forsyth having been shot in the 
leg, which wound he dressed himself. This was one 
of the hardest-fought battles ever fought on the fron- 
tier, with the chances of success largely in favor of 
the renegade Indians on account of numbers from 
the start, and had reinforcements not come to the 
rescue of the party, none would have been left to 
tell the story. After the battle of the Arickaree Gen- 
eral Phil Sheridan wrote that "the. present system 
of dealing with the Indians is an error. There are 
too many fingers in the pie, too many ends to be sub- 
served, and too much money to be made ; and it is to 
the interest of the Nation and to humanity to put an 
end to this inhuman farce. The peace commission, the 
Indian department, the military and the Indian make 
a balky team." 

Such has been the history of our Nation. The 
Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Seminoles, Osages, 
Kickapoos, Pawnees, Sioux, and other tribes have 
been crowded by the white man from their hunting 
grounds with an occasional treaty of peace and a 
purchase for a paltry sum on the part of the white 
man, of lands and possessions belonging to the red 
man, that were in reality worth millions. While on 
the other hand butchery, destruction, devastation, tor- 

25 



'BuilDing a il^eto OBmpire 

ture and plunder was the pride of the red man, and 
every white person killed, added another feather to 
his crown of glory, and placed him that much nearer 
the happy hunting grounds. It was treachery and 
trickery on one hand, and butchery and destruction 
for the other. We are now in a territory claimed by 
the Indians as a hunting ground for ages, until very 
recently the United States Government surveyed and 
mapped it out, declaring it open for homestead entry 
to all citizens of the United States, over the age of 
twenty-one, or the heads of families, and aliens hav- 
ing declared their intention of becoming citizens, could 
also file on a claim of one hundred and sixty acres. 

Four square holes were dug by the surveyors at each 
section corner and the sod taken from these square 
holes was used for making a mound in the center, 
marking each section corner in this manner, and 
the quarter section corners was marked in the same 
manner except that only two holes were dug, and a 
smaller mound was formed. I have often thought that 
the experience of these surveyors in making these 
mounds, far in advance of civilization, often driven 
from their work by the Indian of the plains, and par- 
taking of all the hardships of a frontier life would 
make interesting literature for those who occupy this 
territory in future generations. Here we met hunting 
parties who had been further west, and who gave our 
party vivid descriptions of the fine country further 
west on the Republican, the Sappa, and the Prairie 
Dog. Here also was located a colony from Iowa, 
headed by Captain Garber, who won his title as Cap- 
tain in the Civil War, and with whom we had had a 
personal acquaintance for many years. Here there 
was plenty of Government land subject to homestead 
entry, but the choicest locations were taken. Some 

26 



TBuilDing a iBetti empire 

claims had small houses and other improvements on 
them, but no one living on the land, and our party 
soon became convinced that claims were being held un- 
lawfully by parties on the ground for friends in the 
East who were to arrive and file on the claims later. 
This we found later to be the case all over the country 
subject to homestead entry. When we discovered that 
all the best locations were taken or covered up we 
became more interested in the country further west, 
and after looking over this locality for several days, 
and consulting with numerous hunting parties about 
the country further west, we were considering the 
matter of moving on. Will and Charlie, of our party, 
were now fully determined to go further west, while 
Tan and Ed. were fearful of less rainfall, and the 
country being more subject to drouth, and here the 
Captain and his friends advised our locating near 
Red Cloud, or Guide Rock, as the further west we 
went the lighter would be the rain fall. The higher the 
altitude the more subject we would be to drouth and 
hot winds, and the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians were 
troublesome, as some of the chiefs under Red Cloud 
were not satisfied with the late treaties, and did not 
share in the belief of Red Cloud, the head chief, that 
further hostilities against the whites was useless, but 
such under chiefs as Spotted Tail, Crazy Horse, Whist- 
ler, Sitting Bull, American Horse and others were con- 
stantly making trouble, and raiding the white settle- 
ments, and a massacre, such as the Minnesota massacre 
could be looked for at any time, and it was not safe 
to go further west at that time. Tom's reply was: 
"Captain,* you have now been here for almost two 
years, and although you have a stockade, you have 

* Captain Silas Garber afterwards served two terms as 
Governor of Nebraska. 

27i 



OBuiltiing a l^eto OBmpire 

never had occasion to use it, and you have not been 
troubled with Indians, except when the Omahas, Otoes, 
or Pawnees passed back and forth on their hunting 
expeditions, and I beheve we will be equally safe 
seventy-five miles further west. The Government has 
troops of cavalry guarding the frontier for the pur- 
pose of keeping back from the settlements these hostile 
bands of roving Sioux and Cheyennes, and are using 
all due diligence to protect the homesteaders, and keep 
the hostile Indians back on the buffalo range. While 
here you are beginning to see a little touch of civiliza- 
tion, and a little further west will be as good as this in 
another year or two, and better locations can be se- 
cured there than here, we getting the first choice there, 
as you did here two years ago, and it looks to this 
party of homeseekers that some of the best land here 
was being held in reserve for speculation, or for 
friends of those who are already located here." Tan 
here produced a map and pointed out the possibility 
of locating a town on the north fork of the Sappa, 
in or near the center of a new county now called 
James, but as yet unorganized. 

"But," replied the Captain, "in attempting this you 
may lose your scalps, and in this you will meet with 
strong opposition from the new town of Arapahoe, 
which is already started on the Republican, and an 
effort will be made to establish the boundary lines 
of the county when organized to suit the interests 
of this company at the back of the enterprise. That 
is a fine country to look at up on the Sappa, as I was 
up there on a buffalo hunt last winter, and there are 
as fine valleys to look upon in that wild country as 
you would wish to see, but the names have been some- 
what changed since that map was made, or at least 
since it was properly revised. Sappa is the Indian 

28 



'BuilDing n Jl3eto Empire 

name of Beaver, and they called them the Big and 
Little Sappa, but when the Government surveyed the 
lands they plated the south fork with the Indian name 
of Sappa, but gave the north fork the English name 
of Beaver, to its connection with the Republican River, 
making the north fork the main stream and the Sappa 
a branch emptying into the Beaver. This is the 
Government record, yet some of the hunters and trap- 
pers insist on calling the Sappa the main stream, but 
the Beaver is fifty miles the longer, with a larger flow 
of water." 

The arguments kept up, with no more possibility 
of yielding on either side than when they began, till 
finally the little party of homeseekers held a council 
among themselves, after talking with numerous hunt- 
ing parties, and arguing the question from all points 
of vision, they decided to move on. 

Here our party received the first mail since leaving 
Lincoln. A number of newspapers telling of the 
events in the civilized world, and many letters from 
the home folks, and Tan a liberal supply from the 
"girl he left behind," and for the time was absorbed 
in reading the stack of letters, and seemed to care 
little whether he took a homestead or not. The party 
had looked over the country about Red Cloud, in- 
cluding a trip over the line in Kansas, on the White 
Rock Creek, but found the best claims, on which there 
was timber and water, had been taken, and all the 
party agreed that it could be no worse and perhaps 
much better to take chances further west. 



29 



'Building a Beto empire 



CHAPTER III. 

The Stockade. 

Moving up the valley the next day" could be seen a 
party of several covered wagons, a bunch of cattle 
driven by men on horseback, and every man carried 
a gun or navy revolver, and other weapons were in 
the wagons loaded and ready for easy access. Letters 
had been written to the home-folks before the start, 
telling them of the decision to go on further west, and 
Tan had written a letter to his best girl taking double 
postage, telling of the trip and the decision to move 
on further west, where he hoped to make a home 
for her, and how he longed to see her, and talk it 
all over with her before moving on. Log and sod 
houses were visible along this beautiful vaHey of the 
Republican River, and in the main valley as well as 
on the tributaries were timber sufficient for fuel and 
for building purposes such as were constructed on 
the frontier. Every day we met parties from the 
hunting grounds, and they were all well supplied with 
"jerk." The first time the party had heard dried 
buflFalo meat called "jerk," and one party of hunters 
stopped to talk with our party, and during the con- 
versatbn asked if we did not want to buy some 
^"jerk." Tan was out of his wagon at once and says : 
"Show me ; I want to know what 'jerk' is." The hardy 
hunter held up a piece of dried buffalo meat, and in- 
formed the party that was what they called "jerk," 
"and the way we dry it in the summer is to cut the 
hump and hams in strips, put them in salt water for a 
few hours, then take them out and hang on poles, 

30 




iCV--. 



AN IMPROVED DUGOUT. 



(Building a New Empire Page 30) 



'Bull Ding a Ji^etti Cmpfre 

supported by forked stakes driven in the ground, and 
under this was built a slow fire, the smoke and the 
sun drying the meat, and the smoke also keeps off 
the flies and all insects, leaving the meat clean and 
wholesome ; and the smoke preserves the meat for 
months during the hot summer season. And to us 
plainsmen is our principle article of food," and many 
times he said he had lived on this diet for days with 
nothing else to eat. We began to get interested, for 
he was really what in civilization would be called "a 
hard looker." He was crosseyed, a full beard, long 
hair flowing down on his shoulders, and wore a buck- 
skin suit, and looked a perfect athlete. Said his 
name was Cave, and was usually called "Joe." That 
he had not seen a barber, or a razor for a year. He 
seemed interesting to us "tenderfeet," and told us 
that this process of curing meat had been borrowed 
from the Indians, who were experts in the art. That 
he spent his time in hunting and trapping west of the 
settlements, and hauled his pelts to Buffalo Station 
on the Kansas Pacific railroad, or to North Platte on 
the Union Pacific. Said he had but little trouble with 
the Sioux Indians for they, as a rule, feared the men 
who followed the wild life on the plains. When on 
the warpath, would seldom molest one of us hunters. 
During the conversation he advised us to locate on the 
Beaver or the Sappa, as there was plenty of timber 
and better soil than in many other places. 

From here we began to see more straggling buffalo, 
antelope, and an occasional flock of wild turkey. Ante- 
lope at the time being very plentiful, and their skins 
were used largely in the manufacture of high-grade 
gloves, but since they became extinct, skins from the 
Mocha sheep along the sun-baked coast of British East 
Africa, and the sweltering plains of Arabia, are being 

31 



'BuilDing a jBeto empire 

imported to America in shiploads, to make the Mocha 
gloves so highly prized now, taking the place of gloves 
once made from the skins of antelope killed on the 
Western plains of North America. 

That night v^e camped near the log cabin of a 
homesteader, who had been in the valley for more than 
a year. He and his wife paid our camp a friendly 
visit in the evening, and gave us the information that 
the man we had met and talked with, was none other 
than Joe Cave, but whom everybody in the West 
knew as "California Joe." That no man on the plains 
was feared more by the Indians than "California Joe," 
and that no surer shot walked the plains than he. That 
he was an athlete in the true sense of the word ; could 
run five miles as fast as the best "bronco" on the 
prairie, and then shoot straight without a rest, and 
seldom missed his mark. Here we witnessed one of 
the beautiful sunsets on the plains, more magnificent 
and beautiful than can be witnessed on the ocean or by 
a wooded landscape, and can be no better portrayed 
than in this beautiful little poem by my friend and 
comrade, Dr. J. W. Webster : 

"No man may pen the beauties of a sunset on the 

plains. 
Nor artist paint its splendor, all efforts are in vain. 
It sinks to rest, beyond the hills, a burnished ball of 

gold, 
Leaving a beauteous trail of glory, twilight o'er the 

world. 

"The sun-gleamed clouds' reflected glow mellows the 

distant lea, 
Behold a strange transfiguration, a green and waving 

sea. 

32 



OBuilDing a Betu OBmpite 

Ten thousand gold-tipped arrows, flung from the set- 
ting sun, 

Dance and quiver in gorgeous glory, on the western 
horizon. 

"The fleecy clouds are mustered near the day god's 

failing light, 
And the stars in timid grandeur steal out from silent 

night. 
Now the penciled rays of glory are furled slowly in the 

west, 
Black night reigns victorious, the sun hath sunk to 

rest." 

We had seen no rain now for about two weeks, and 
the short buffalo grass was beginning to turn brown 
and dry, and the mirage on the prairies which we 
had been seeing in the glaring sun for the past two 
weeks became more plainly visible, and looking over 
the bare prairies we could plainly see groves of tim- 
ber, lakes, and streams of water that did not exist. 
Yet they could be plainly seen by the casual observer, 
although it is but an optical illusion, and in fact does 
not exist, but many have been the travelers over the 
Western plains deluded by the mirage into the belief 
that water or timber was in sight, when in fact it 
was blank space and not what it seemed. We occa- 
sionally found an attempt to start a town along the 
valley, and some energetic fellow had built a sod or 
log house, put in a load or two of meat, flour, and 
other staple articles, called it a store and gave it a 
name suitable for a city of the first class ; and in 
fact nearly all the towns of the great West had been 
started in this way, with a very small beginning, and 
the homesteader made the trail blazed by "California 

33 



'25uilliin0 a ii3eto empire 

Joe," "Wild Bill," "Schoonover," "Cole," "Stout," 
"Matlax," and other of the old hunters whose place in 
history should rank with Kit Carson, Daniel Boone and 
otfiars whose names are now only known in history, 
but who have blazed the trail for the advance of 
civilization. These frontiersmen who killed thousands 
upon thousands of buffalo as a matter of business for 
the profit there was in the business selling the hides, 
and leaving the carcasses to decay on the prairies, or to 
be devoured by the ravenous wolves that swarmed 
over the plains of the West where wild game was 
plentiful. We passed Riverton, Franklin, and Alma, 
where a post office had been established, the furthest 
west in the Republican Valley at the time, and a few 
miles west we found a little settlement called Melrose, 
where a stockade had been built in 1870 in which to 
house the few families located in the vicinity as a 
protection against hostile Indians. Nearing this place 
we met a German who talked broken English, who 
said he lived at Plattsmouth, "and I comes oud Vest 
to makes me von homstead, und I goes mit de Re- 
bublican River down ver I vinds von mocazine drack 
mit de sand in, an I nod makes any homstead dare. 
I vraid de big Injen makes my hair raise; me nod 
make any homstead dare. Me vor Bladsmouth, vere I 
vorks mit de railroad gumbany mit der machine shops 
in." Here a man introduced himself as Galen James, 
who had taken a claim about twelve miles west of the 
stockade where the Sappa empties in the Beaver. He 
had taken the claim- in 1870 and had made some im- 
provements on his place, but had spent a goodly por- 
tion of his time at the stockade. He asked if we had 
heard anything of the Indians. To which question 
we informed him that, from the best information we 
had, Red Cloud was north of the Platte, but a roving 

34 




CHIEF RED CLOUD 
After Living on Reservation 30 Years 



{Building a New Etitf>ire Page 33) 



IBuilDing a il3eta) Cmpite 

band of warriors under Chief Crazy Horse was on 
the Republican River further west. Tan had taken 
particular delight in reading up on the Sioux Indian 
problem and told Mr. James that usually we spoke 
of the Western Indians as Sioux, which they were; 
but there was many bands of them under subordinate 
chiefs, but were really one immense band of hostiles 
under one great leader, as many regiments of soldiers 
compose an army corps. These Indians were known 
as the Sioux, Cheyennes, Brules, and other bands un- 
der subordinate leaders, but Red Cloud was the chief 
over all. The Sioux were the deadly enemy of the 
Pawnees, Omahas, Otoes and the Crows, and had 
been at war with these tribes for many years, and 
fought many bloody battles, but from the Sioux being 
so numerous, had killed many of their enemies belong- 
ing to these other tribes and defeated them in battle 
so many times that the Sioux had taken courage at 
their success, and the others had met defeat so often 
that they were greatly discouraged and willingly ac- 
cepted reservations offered by the Government and 
Government protection, but Red Cloud and his fol- 
lowers continued in a warlike mood toward these 
tribes and the whites, and in 1866 said to a commission 
at Laramie that the white man could take his terri- 
tory extending from the North Platte to the Yellow 
Stone, but he would "mark every mile of the trail with 
the dead bodies of soldiers." He made war on the 
whites and raided wagon trains, and whether they 
were private property or the property of the United 
States Government or not, it made no difference to 
him. He also raided small military posts, driving off 
stock, and captured numerous bands of cattle and 
horses belonging to the Government, raided the settle- 
ments in the Platte Valley and extended his territory 

3S 



'BuilDing a Jl3etti empire 

as far south as the Kansas Pacific railroad, which 
was then being built west to Denver. He delayed 
work on the Union Pacific railroad by continued raids, 
and under his leadership the Western plains was a 
battleground between the forerunners of civilization 
and the Sioux warriors, resulting in Red Cloud re- 
ceiving a crushing blow by the Eighteenth Infantry, 
resulting in his total defeat, and in 1869 he was 
rounded up and put on reservation. He had decided 
that fighting the paleface was useless, and from that 
time forward the Sioux fought the white man and 
raided the settlements under subordinate chiefs com- 
manding small bands of Sioux who were not ready to 
follow the advice of their old leader, and surrender 
their warlike tendencies to the dictates of the white 
man. Red Cloud is now the last of the great chiefs 
such as Powhatan, King Philip, Pontiac, Tecumseh, 
Red Jacket, Blackhawk, and Black Bird, and aside 
from Geronimo, no Indian chief of later years has 
gained the notoriety and caused the Government and 
frontier settlements as much trouble as Red Cloud. 
Mr. James informed us that this stockade was built in 
the autumn of 1870 by the few settlers who had lo- 
cated land in the vicinity, and had been occupied the 
two previous winters. 

The hardships endured, the privations of the first 
settlers of a frontier life in a new country had been 
experienced in this lonely stockade, built with lay- 
ers of sod one upon another had made a solid wall 
two and one-half feet thick, and as high as an ordinary 
one-story house, which was covered with brush and 
sod to turn the rain as a shingle roof. The walls were 
bullet proof, and the building as warm and as com- 
fortable as an ordinary brick or stone house. Mur-^ 
derous bands of marauding Indians from the Sioux 

36 








-^ 



't] 






8 
«) 



'Building a il3etai OBmpire 

tribes, visited the vicinity on several occasions, but 
did not venture an attack, and no doubt for no other 
reason than a Sioux Indian is afraid to make an at- 
tack on a sod or log house occupied by white men well 
armed. The Pawnees, Omahas and Otoes, passed by 
the stockade frequently on their hunting trips for 
big game, but these tribes were friendly. They would 
beg and pilfer, but aside from this were harmless. 

"We have lived largely on wild game, but last 
winter," said Mr. James, "there was more snow than 
usual, and the main herd of buffalo moved south, 
and obtaining meat became a serious problem ; and of 
course our supply of other provisions were running 
low, and to replenish the depleted stock became a 
serious matter. But something must be done; and 
while he and a few others had lived for three months 
the previous winter on wild game alone, something 
now must soon be done to relieve the situation. A 
consultation was held, and it was decided that five 
of the party should remain and defend the stock- 
ade, while the other twelve should arm themselves and 
cross the trackless prairie to Fort Kearney, a distance 
of sixty miles, to purchase provisions. The party left 
at the stockade inspected their supply of provisions, 
and found that one bushel of beans would have to 
answer the demands of their ravenous appetites for 
seven days, the time in which the Fort Kearney party 
were expected to return. Seven days passed, and 
there was no tidings from the relief party, and the 
bean soup was made thinner. Day after day the prai- 
ries were watched for the return of the relief party, 
and day after day the bean soup was getting thinner. 
Fourteen days passed away and still no signs of 
their companions from Fort Kearney. Beans were 
getting terribly scarce and again the amount of water 

37 



IBuiir^im a ii3eto OBmpite 

must be increased and the number of beans reduced 
in their soup. Four more days and the soup became 
terribly thin, and in fact too thin to keep them longer 
at the stockade, which they resolved to desert and 
search for the provision train and their missing com- 
panions, w^hom they supposed had been frozen to 
death. Four more days they spent on the dismal 
prairies in search of the missing train loaded with 
provisions, almost famished for the want of food, 
and finally they came in sight and together they all 
wended their way back to the stockade. All this 
extra time the party had been lost and wandering over 
the trackless prairie; had gone west to Plum Creek 
and were compelled to return to Fort Kearney and 
make a new start for the stockade in the Republican 
Valley. After their return the soup was thickened 
with more beans, fat pork and less water. 

"Many ask if the proposed new county west, in 
which my land is located, is called James County in 
honor of my being the first to locate land on the 
Beaver, and aside from Ben Burton up on Deer 
Creek, am the first actual settler in the proposed 
county, but to this I will say that such is not the 
case. The unorganized county is named for the 
Honorable William H. James, Secretary of State, 
who has been acting as Governor since Governor But- 
ler was impeached by the legislature last winter; and 
as for me, I claim no such honor as the naming a 
county." 

Here now had located a number of new settlers, and 
two small stores had been started, one by Casey & 
Conoly, and the other by Hooper & McKee. The 
people expected to start a town here, and explained 
that it was near the junction of the Beaver, Sappa, 
and many smaller streams, and was also near the 

38 



'BuilDtnu a l^eto OBmpire 

Prairie Dog, and the trade from all these valleys would 
naturally drift to Melrose, the name adopted for the 
new town which they hoped to make the metropolis 
of the Republican Valley. But the turning of this vast 
country into a farming country, and filling it with 
people who would devote their time and interests to 
agricultural pursuits, looked to this little party of 
homeseekers like a stupendous undertaking, and the 
idea of building up a town or city in the Republican 
Valley, and especially as far west as Melrose, when 
there were but few settlers, and they protected from 
hostile Indians by a stockade built of native sod, among 
the impossibilities by many of the party during this 
conversation. 

Tan said other frontier settlements had suffered th^ 
hardships and inconveniences that you were now ex- 
periencing, and where other settlements had been made 
by the white man under conditions as discouraging 
as yours have been and are at present, prosperous 
farming communities have been established, with 
towns and cities built that are now known to the world, 
and many of the people who first located these com- 
munities were killed by the hostile Indians, their cab- 
ins burned and their horses stolen. Revenge has been 
the watchword of the red man for being deprived of 
his lands and his usual hunting grounds, and revenge 
has also been the cry of the white man for the 
murder of his family or his friends, and cases are 
numerous where men counted the "notches" on their 
gun barrels for the number of hostile lives taken, 
just as the red man has counted the number of scalps 
at his belt, or the number of feathers in his war cap, 
each feather denoting a white man's scalp. And this 
revenge on the part of the white man was the real 
cause of the battle of the Arickaree. Only a few 

39. 



l5uilDmg a il3eto OBmpite 

years ago a trapper on a tributary of the Missouri 
River in Dakota was killed by a band of renegade 
Sioux, and a brother who escaped death at the time 
by a mere chance, sought revenge and killed one 
hundred red men, regardless of whether they were 
hostile or friendly, and for every Indian killed a notch 
was cut on a stick and carried in a metal tube hung to 
his belt, and but three years ago I saw this man and 
his stick, and talked with him before his story called 
"Notches on the Stick" was published in the New 
York Weekly. 

Where the city of Chicago now stands, the second 
city in the United States in population, and the sixth 
city in the world, only one hundred years ago had 
but one log cabin occupied by a negro trapper, and 
not until 1803 was there a military post established, 
and during the war of 181 2 this post was destroyed, 
and the few people living there were massacred. Yet 
beginning on the night of October 8, 1871, starred 
the greatest fire known to modern civilization, burn- 
ing over an area of two thousand and one hundred 
acres of land built in a solid city of stone, brick, 
iron and timbers, containing seventeen thousand five 
hundred massive buildings, and making homeless over 
one hundred thousand people, and all this occurred 
within the past fifty-four years ; so why not build a 
small metropolis in the Republican Valley in the 
years to come. 

Hundreds of other cities and towns have been 
built up in even a shorter space of time. Hunters 
and others, even those interested in the development 
of the West, claim we will always be troubled with 
drouth and hot winds out here, that communities 
further east did not have to contend with, that here 
drouthy conditions will prevail, and growing crops 

40 




o 

pa 

fa 
o 

G 
< 









cq 



13uiIDinj9: a il^eto empire 

may suffer for moisture during the growing seasons." 
"Yes," said Mr. James, "all this may be true, for 
the settlement of this country is an experiment, but 
the past season there were some small fields of corn 
planted which produced good results, and vegetables 
of different kinds produced fairly well, and vines of 
all kinds done excellent." 

After talking over the situation in all its phases 
with these forerunners of civilization, and discuss- 
ing the pros and cons with the members of our own 
party, and giving our stock a day's rest, we moved on 
up the Beaver. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Claims Located — the Missouri Preacher. 

Here appeared to the vision one of the most beauti- 
ful and romantic scenes ever witnessed by the eyes 
of civilization. Spreading out from bluff to bluff on 
either side of the dim trail was a beautiful valley 
varying in width from one to three miles, down 
through the center of which coursed the Beaver, 
bordered on either bank with a growth of elm, ash, 
box-alder and cottonwood, growing out to the prai- 
rie's edge, which made the scenery beautiful to look 
upon. And from the higher points of elevation this 
meandering growth of timber could be seen for miles 
in its course from west to east. Small bands of buf- 
falo could be seen grazing on the high lands either 
north or south, with an occasional antelope showing 
its curiosity by shying round us in an attempt, seem- 
ingly, to learn the cause of our presence on their graz- 
ing grounds, and this wild, romantic scene was occa- 
sionally made hideous by a howling band of ravenous 

41 



050110100 a Ji3eto Cmpite 

wolves which always followed the buffalo. Here the 
fear of being destroyed or trampled under the feet 
of an immense band of wild buffalo, being devoured 
by wolves, or scalped by a murderous band of hos- 
tile Indians, began to show on the faces of the ladies 
in the party, and the fear of all these dire calamities 
was plainly visible, and some of the men in the party 
were beginning to fear the results of a venture so 
far west. 

Winding our way up the beautiful valley of the 
Beaver we occasionally saw a homesteader plowing 
up the sod and planting a little corn, but in every case 
a heavy revolver was in its scabbard attached to his 
belt, or a breech-loading rifle strapped to his plow, 
and in most cases both weapons were visible. No 
wagon road was visible or could be seen in this wild 
country, although the few hunters and homestead- 
ers ahead of us had left their tracks, which were scat- 
tered over the prairie. Their general course could 
be followed, and in this way we followed the dim 
trail over the buffalo grass, passing the homesteads 
located by James, Dolph, French, Keiser, Harman and 
others. We discovered a little improvement a little 
out of our regular course, and here we decided to turn 
in and endeavor to learn further facts relative to the 
location of vacant land in this immediate vicinity. 
We first found a big, burly boy about seventeen or 
eighteen years old, breaking prairie with a team of 
horses, and on our approach he accosted us with 
"Howde," the backwoods' phrase of Missouri for "how 
do you do." 

Will asked if he had located a homestead there, to 
which he said: "No; this is Dad's claim, an' mine 
is over yender; but we only bin hur three weeks, an' 

42 




MAS YAMO, THE MISSOUEI PREACHER 



{^Building a New Empire Page 43) 



"ISuilDing a Jl^eto OBmpire 

I hain't don' nothin' on my claim yit, only laid a 
foundashun." 

Asked where his father was, said: "Dad he's down 
yender bildin' a house." 

So "down yender" Will and Tan went to see "Dad." 
They found a man of monstrous proportions, laying 
up logs on the foundation started for a log house, 
while his good wife and a girl, seemingly about fifteen 
years old, were hauling logs from the timber nearby 
to be used in the construction of a house on the new 
homestead. This man, as stated, was a monster in 
size, being much over six feet in height, and large in 
proportion ; long hair flowing down on his shoulders, 
and as we approached we were greeted with the 
same "howde, men." The conversation drifted first 
to the building after the rather informal introduction, 
in which he said he was from Missouri, and that his 
name was Yamo, but where he was raised in Missouri 
they alius called him Mas, which was his nickname. 

"Yes," said he, "I used ter preach in old Missouri; 
but don't reckon ther'U be much ter preach to hur fur 
sum time to cum. I is gwine ter bild a house hur 
just like the one we had back yender. Bill and me 
goes down in the timber and cuts the logs, and the 
old woman an' Fannie snakes 'em up, while Bill goes 
out an' plows, an' I lays up the logs." 

Asked if that was not pretty heavy work for one 
man, said : "No, that hain't nothin', I kin sholder an' 
carry the biggest log thar. W'y, tother day I killed 
a big buffalo yearlin' an' carried to camp, half a mild 
on my sholder ; no, that hain't nothin'," and he looked 
like he could back up the assertion. A monster in size 
and every motion indicated that he was a Sandow 
in strength. "I don't know if this count, y will ever 
be worth nothin', but I is sure gwine ter try it, an' 

43 



ef I cain't raise a livin' on this sile, I kin kill buffalo 
an' I kin go furder east to the settlements an' preach 
an' mebby thatawa I kin git sum corn for the bosses 
an' sum bredstuff fur the family. I'd like fur uns 
ter git sum land bur clost, but thar hain't nothin' rite 
clost around bur with timber on it. Bill he has tuk 
that ar claim over yender, but I'll tell yer honest, he 
ain't quite uv age yit, but we want ter hold the claim 
fur him." 

This was our first acquaintance with the preacher 
from Missouri, and we passed on up the line, reach- 
ing the claims located by the Armstrong brothers the 
following day, where we found good land with timber 
and water, and bluestem grass growing in abun- 
dance on the low lands near the creek which could be 
cut and cured for hay, making excellent winter feed 
for live stock. Here we decided to locate, and after 
killing and drying some buffalo meat, we divided 
camp, a portion of the party going about two miles 
west, near the claims already located by the Hadley 
brothers, Kinzie and Danforth. 

Now began the first work in making a home in 
a new country surrounded by thousands of wild buf- 
falo, wolves by the hundred, with an occasional black 
wolf or mountain lion, either of which could carry 
off a calf or a good-sized boy or girl. A small piece 
of ground was plowed and made in a garden, where 
we also planted an early variety of corn, hoping to 
raise some for food. Logs were cut for houses, and 
in a few weeks we were living in rough log houses, 
not extremely handsome, but answered as a protection 
from the inclemencies of the season, and the con- 
struction was of our own handiwork, and while this 
work of construction was going on we had guns or 
revolvers at our sides at all times and on all occasions. 

44 



'Building a Betti OBmpite 

Every day wild game was in sight, while rattlesnakes 
and vipers were everywhere to be seen, and especially 
about the prairie dog towns where rattlesnakes of all 
sizes, from the little fellow with a single button, up 
to the size of six feet or more in length, with often 
twenty-five or thirty rattles. These rattlers would 
drive the prairie dogs from their burrows in the 
ground and occupy them as a home. The idea pre^ 
vailing in many places, that the prairie dogs, rattle- 
snakes, and prairie owls lived together as one family 
in one burrow is a false impression, although some 
writers have attempted to make the fact a matter of 
history. It is erroneous, and the rattlesnakes are the 
deadly enemy of both the prairie dog and the owl, and 
drove them from their habitations to make a home of 
their own. 

When a bunch of buffalo appeared on the scene with 
a good chance for a shot, work for the time was sus- 
pended for the sport, and if successful, the best of 
the meat was saved and dried while the work was pro- 
gressing. 

One day while we were getting some logs out of a 
ravine near where the first house was to be built, 
Tan looked up the south divide and saw a great herd 
of long-horn cattle coming down the divide with 
horsemen on either side of the herd, and a horseman 
riding far in advance and who now had reached near 
the place where the homesteaders were at work, and rid- 
ing up to the parties, looked like a Government scout, 
or a cattleman of experience. He introduced himself 
as the guide for the cattleman, making a trail over the 
country to the northwest. Said he was looking for the 
old Government trail running from Fort Hayes, on 
the Kansas Pacific railroad, to Fort McFerson, on 
the platte, which was located on the south side of the 

45 



'BuilDing a n^cto OBmpire 

Platte River at the mouth of Cotton Wood Canon. 
Said he had been over the trail many times in the 
regular army, but admitted that he had been off the 
trail for two days and was unable to find anyone to 
give him any information as to where it was, although 
he believed he must be near the trail. We informed 
him that the trail was just a little west from where 
we now stood, and pointed out the track on the north 
side of the Beaver where it climbed the divide to the 
northwest. We walked out a little further in the di- 
rection the cattle would pass and a big, burly, raw- 
boaed man rode up to us, the guide informing us 
that he was the foreman, and he. too, was seeking the 
information about the old trail. He talked quite freely, 
and seemed quite relieved when informed that he 
was near the old trail. Asked if he were driving from 
Texas, informed us that he was, and was driving to 
California. Asked if he did not think that a pretty 
long drive, said: 

"Oh, no, that ain't fur; we can drive through in 
two years easy enough by wintering in some of the 
valleys out in the mountains." 

This man had in his herd two thousand head of 
cattle, and behind him was two thousand more be- 
longing to the same company, which would be there in 
about two days. 

This was made the permanent trail over which 
passed thousands of cattle to the northwest every 
year, and which made Dodge City, Elsworth, North 
Platte and Ogallala, famous as frontier towns as 
famous as the cattle trail of itself. 

This year a count was kept of the cattle going over 
this trail, which numbered over thirty-four thousand 
head, and fully as many in the next year's following 
passed over the trail. Texas cattle had been brought 

46 



IBuilDing a jfl3etD (J^mpire 

into Kansas to be turned loose on the range, and fur- 
ther east to be wintered by farmers, but this was 
really the beginning of the big cattle ranches on the 
Western plains, of which more will be said later in 
this story. 

One Sunday morning, after we had moved into 
the new log house, an Indian wearing buckskin 
breeches and a blanket appeared on the scene with 
a "how ; how," meaning the familiar term of the 
whites of "how do you do?" and said in broken Eng- 
lish : "Me want salt." 

Tan asked: "You Sioux?" 

"No, me Omaha. Me good Injen. We hunt up 
Drift Wood, Sioux heap mad, heap fight. Omaha get 
no buffalo ; Omaha heap hungry. Kill em buffalo las' 
night, heap want salt." 

His wants were supplied in a small way, and he 
informed us, in his way, that his party was camped on 
the creek nearly half a mile away, and Tan, with 
some of the other homesteaders, made a visit to the 
camp where they found about six hundred Omahas 
camped on the banks of the Beaver. They were of 
the true frontier type, but friendly, and two were 
found who could talk very good English, and informed 
us that they had been Government scouts during the 
Civil War on the frontier. 

Some of the bucks were out as sentries guarding 
the camp and the two hundred or more ponies, while 
others were lazily loitering about the camp, some 
cooking meat, some drying meat, while others were 
busily engaged in fleshing and graining hides, making 
them ready for the regular process of tanning. 

We watched the process of cooking and eating in 
what seemed to us its primitive state, and after 
their ravenous appetites had been satisfied, twenty of 

47 



IBuilDing a j^efej OBmpire 

their best horses were brought in, raw-hide bridles 
were provided, bows and arrows, the former with raw- 
hide strings, and the latter with steel points were 
being brought out by some of the younger men, and 
we surmised a hunt was being planned, which sug- 
gestion was confirmed by one of the interpreters. 
Our next thought was to see this hunt without court- 
ing the displeasure of the Indians, and through the 
interpreter we made our desires known to the chief, 
who readily consented, provided we carried or used 
no firearms, as they preferred the still hunt where 
game was plentiful. 

So on our horses and out we followed twenty In- 
dians clad principally in Nature's garb, each riding 
a strong, well-muscled pony, and each carrying a bow 
with a quiver full of arrows, but not a firearm in the 
company. They were under the leadship of an under 
chief, who gave orders and instructions in his own 
language as to how the hunt was to proceed, and 
out about one mile from the camp a bunch of eighteen 
buffalo was seen, and by the order of the chief a 
trail was taken up a draw (in the East these draws 
would be called hollows), and as soon as near the 
buffalo a run was made at full speed, the chief in the 
lead. The buffalo undertook to run ahead of the lead- 
ing horseman, which was their custom, and the leader 
of the band of buffalo was shot down by two arrows, 
and the buffalo were put to running in a circle, 
followed by the Indians on their well-trained ponies, 
some shooting their arrows in a straight sitting posi- 
tion, while others seemed to lay flat on the sides of 
their ponies, shooting under their necks, and in less 
time than it takes to write it down, all the eighteen 
buffalo had been killed on a space of ground not to 
exceed ten acres in area. 

48 



IBuilDing a n^eto OBmpire 

Other Indians were bringing up the rear with pack 
horses that we had not seen, and in a short time 
the eighteen buffalo had been skinned and cut up, 
and loaded on the ponies headed for the camp, and 
we had seen a real, live Indian buffalo hunt on the 
plains of the West, such, no doubt, as had been prac- 
ticed on these prairies for a thousand years or more 
by the different tribes that had roamed these plains for 
ages. While our friends in the East were attending 
church, reading the Sunday papers, or lounging in the 
parks, we were watching the Indians kill a small herd 
of buffalo on the Western plains. 

The next day the Omahas broke camp and moved on 
eastward, but the interpreters had told us that up on 
the Arickaree and Driftwood was a camp of Sioux 
under Chief Whistler, but a battalion of cavalry was 
camped on the Red Willow with "Buffalo Bill" and 
Jack Stilwell as scouts, and would not allow the Sioux 
to come any further east. 

The work of the homesteader went merrily on, 
building log houses, dug out stables, and cutting hay 
for the stock to be fed during the winter. We knew 
but little of the winters except what "Wild Bill," 
"California Joe" Matlax and other hunters and trap- 
pers had told us. They were usually dry, open, and 
but little snow, although the previous winter had been 
very severe, with snow, ice, and extreme cold 
weather. 

A few more people came and took claims along the 
river and creeks, and an effort was made to extend 
a mail route from Alma as far west on the Beaver 
as "Wild Turkey" (now called Wilsonville), but this 
was a slow process. The postmaster at Alma either 
neglected or refused to recommend a route up the 
Beaver until late in the winter of i872-'73. The recom- 

49 



iSujlDing n n^eta empire 

mendation was secured, and in the spring of 1873 an 
office was established at Beaver City with C. A. Dan- 
forth as postmaster, and one also at Wild Turkey with 
Miss Jennie Plumb as postmistress, and until this 
was done the people carried the mail from Alma, a 
distance of twenty-seven miles, and to Wild Turkey, 
a distance of forty-three miles, the settlers taking 
turns going for the mail once a week. 

Arapahoe had been more fortunate, having secured 
a mail route and a post office in 1872. And still the 
asking for post offices and star routes went merrily on, 
and immigration kept moving along further west, and 
our own neighbors were becoming more numerous. 

Claim jumping was talked of on many occasions, 
and the unmarried man who was attempting to hold 
a claim unless in actual possession, eating and sleep- 
ing on his claim, was in danger of losing his rights 
at any time. The Government land office was closed 
and would not be open until September first, and no 
papers could be had either for homestead or preemp- 
tion, and one young man whose intentions had not 
been questioned, but who had only made slight im- 
provements on his claim he had selected, having been 
living with a neighbor who had a family, and had as- 
sisted the neighbor in building a house. 

A new man coming in had heard that the young 
man was not living on his claim and holding the land 
according to the strict letter of the law, had decided 
to move on the land and take chances on a contest. 
The move was made one evening and the breaking 
plow was started the next morning by the claim 
jumper, while across the Beaver, in the timber, axes 
were making the chips fly cutting house logs. 

The neighborhood was soon aware of the contest 
for possession, and the young man was advised to 

50 



ISuilDing: a Beto OBmpire 

call on the claim jumper and talk the matter over. 
He did so and informed the claim jumper that he 
had taken this land in good faith, had been helping 
a neighbor to build a house in which to shelter his 
family, and when this was done the neighbor was to 
help him in return. That he had taken the claim in 
good faith and intended to hold the claim at all haz- 
ards, and by force, if necessary. 

The newcomer had informed him that he had under- 
stood that he had not been fulfilling the law and was 
not living on the claim as the law directed he should, 
and he had decided to take the claim and improve it. 
That he had a family, while the other had not, and 
if force was necessary to hold the claim, that he would 
resort to force. 

The first claimant saw that force was now neces- 
sary, and he backed off a few paces with his Sharps 
rifle in hand, and told the claim jumper that the matter 
could be settled now as well as to wait longer. The 
claim jumper seeing the situation was beginning to 
look serious, made a move to get his gun from the 
wagon nearby, while the other put his gun to his 
shoulder, with the command to halt or die. The young 
man had the drop on his man and intended to keep 
it, and while he was holding his opponent in range of 
his trusty rifle, five horsemen rode up and gave the 
claim jumper the positive command to hitch to his 
wagon and move on ; that where a man was holding a 
claim in good faith, and was doing all he could to 
improve it, and was acting in good faith within the 
meaning of the law, that other claim holders would 
protect him, and if he did not want more lead in his 
body than he could carry away he had best move on, 
which he did. 

This was the spirit of the homesteader as a rule, 

51 



IBniltim a n^eUJ OBmpire 

and the principle of ri^ht and justice was supported 
on all occasions by the majority of the people, and 
the claim jumper had no sympathy with the com- 
munity of homesteaders Avho were endeavoring to 
make homes in the far West. 

This would-be claim jumper took a claim a few 
miles further west, adopted the true spirit of the bor- 
der of civilization, and became a good citizen. 

One morning- the Hadley Brothers discovered that 
during the night two of their horses had disappeared, 
but how and by what means was never known. Al- 
though a general search was made throughout the 
country no trace of them was ever found, and it was 
never known whether the horses were taken by In- 
dians or white men ; but they were gone, and it was a 
severe loss to the owners, and the brothers making the 
supreme efforts of their young lives for a home of their 
own in the wild West, were the victims of the first 
horse thieves to visit the Beaver Valley, and no 
one knew who would be the next victim, or suffer 
a similar loss. Whether it was done by prowling In- 
dians, a lone white man or two, who wanted horses 
to ride back home, or whether a regular banditta had 
been organized by renegade Indians, whites and half- 
breeds, to rob the homesteaders and force them to 
leave the country and the buffalo range to the Indian 
and the plainsman, and abandon the idea of making 
this an agricultural country. All these conditions 
were discussed by the homesteaders and many feared 
this might be the beginning of a reign of terror to 
the settlers that must either be endured, or abandon the 
lands selected for homes, and while during the sum- 
mer, autumn and winter a few abandoned their lands, 
going back to the parental roof, or seeking solace with 
their wives' people, yet the majority remained and 

52 



•BuilDinfif a il3etti (Empire 

the fear of further loss by theft gradually wore away. 

After the search for the stolen horses had been 
abandoned, and the conditions being discussed in the 
Hadley and the Kinzie camps, a lone horse with saddle 
and bridle came running down from the divide, and 
seeing the camp came to it, and it was caught and care- 
fully examined for blood stains, thinking its rider had 
been shot by Indians ; but not a drop of blood could be 
found, nor did there seem to be any indications of 
violence, but the horse was tethered to a rope and the 
party waited for further developments. 

An occasional shot could be heard up the divide, 
and it was supposed that a party of hunters were on 
the divide, which was literally covered with buffalo, 
and at that time a person could see from an elevated 
position on the divide countless thousands of buffalo, 
and as many expressed it : "The hills were black with 
them." 

Late in the afternoon a lone footman was seen 
coming toward the camp, and as he drew nearer it 
could be seen that it was a white man carrying a 
gun, and as he came to the camp expressed himself 
as being delighted to find his horse. Said his name 
was Hasty, and that he and some other parties had 
been looking over the divide and taking an occa- 
sional shot at buffalo when a herd stampeded and 
scared his horse. The animal had fallen with him, 
and in the struggle had gotten loose from him and 
headed this way, and that he had followed with his 
needle gun, but at the start he had only seven cart- 
ridges. Coming down a draw to avoid the throng 
of buffalo (which in day time always grazed on the 
highest grounds) he followed the horse in this direc- 
tion until he encountered a surly bull that had evi- 
dently been wounded and was standing in his course. 

S3. 



"BuilDing a n^eto OBmpire 

To go round it in sight of the main herd meant a 
stampede, and no doubt death by being trampled under 
the feet of a thousand or more monarchs of the plains, 
so he decided to take a position behind a bank and 
kill the one solitary buffalo guarding this trail down 
the draw. His first shot only staggered the animal, 
which looked as large as an elephant, but he did not 
fall. This left him six cartridges, and he waited, 
thinking the brute might have been struck in a vital 
spot and would drop. But he still stood his ground, 
and to attempt to pass him he knew meant death, 
for nearing a wounded buffalo was like bearding a 
lion in his den. Finally the huge animal moved par- 
tially around, and stood broadside to him, and taking 
advantage of the situation he chanced another shot, 
and fortunately the bullet pierced his heart, and he 
dropped dead in his tracks. Not being certain that 
his bullet had done its work successfully, he waited 
for a time till he could see no further struggle, and 
then passed on with only five cartridges left, and no 
doubt a thousand buffalo within the sound of his 
voice ; and a stampede meant death in its most agoniz- 
ing form to the lone footman following the trail of 
his lost horse. 

Numerous herds of Texas cattle still continued to 
come over the trail driven by the Texas cowboys, 
seeking the grazing grounds on the North and South 
Platte rivers, where cattle ranches were being estab- 
lished on a large scale, and where cattle and horses 
were supposed to live and thrive, winter and summer, 
on the grasses native to the country, and which had 
sustained millions of wild animals for centuries past. 



54 




< 



b&i> \ -^1^ ^ 



O 



2; 






8 

«5 



IBuiMm a ii5eto OBmpire 

CHAPTER V. 

Matlax, the Trapper. 

Geo. W. Hill and Joe Miller, who had settled on 
the Republican River, made a canvass of the county, 
or the territory which was expected would compose 
the county, with a petition asking the acting governor 
to issue a proclamation organizing the county and 
naming it James County. During the visit of these 
parties to Tan's camp under a big cottonwood tree 
it was learned that but very few of the citizens were 
members of any secret society, there being at that 
time but four Masons in the proposed county, and a 
like number of Odd Fellows, but there were many of 
the new settlers that were or had been church mem- 
bers, and nearly all were anxious for the building up 
of a moral community, and it would require the efforts 
of all morally-inclined people to accomplish this, but 
church organizations and secret societies were as yet 
far away, the nearest Masonic or Odd Fellows' lodge 
being at Grand Island, one hundred and thirty miles 
away, and a church organization was not known to 
be in existence any nearer. The petition was signed 
to organize the county by a majority of the 'squatters," 
for this was all the settlers could be termed, for no 
papers could yet be had on these lands. The peti- 
tion was duly transmitted to the governor, who 
promptly returned it with the following letter : 

Executive Office, State of Nebraska, 

Lincoln, Neb., August 2nd, 1872. 
Mr. Joe Miller, et al. 
Dear Sir: — Replying to your letter of recent date 

55 



13uilDin0 a Jl3ett) (Bmpitt 

accompanied with a petition for the organization of 
a county to be known as James County, I beg to state 
that no boundary lines have been estabHshed for a 
county in the territory named, and until a legislature 
establishes the boundaries of a county, the executive 
of the State has no jurisdiction in the matter. But 
where the boundaries of a county have been estab- 
lished, the governor may, at his discretion, and on 
the petition of the citizens, issue his proclamation 
authorizing the citizens to hold an election for the 
organization of the county. Until organized you will 
be attached to Harlan County for revenue and elec- 
tion purposes. 

(Signed) William H. James, 

Governor. 

This move on the part of the citizens had not been 
approved by the owners of the town site at Arapahoe, 
and many of the citizens thought the cause of the 
governor declining the proclamation was due to this 
cause, and it was plainly visible that these people 
were laying plans to control the politics and the des- 
tiny of the county when it should be organized, and 
this very feeling grew into distrust, which caused the 
owners of the Arapahoe town site much trouble, and 
resulted in the defeat of this place for the county 
seat. 

Tan was still keeping up correspondence with the 
"girl he left behind," and as the time passed she 
seemed dearer to him than ever before, although so 
many hundred miles apart, she teaching in one of the 
city schools at Waukula, and he homesteading in the 
West with the intention of making a home for her to 
occupy in the near future ; she picturing in her mind's 
idea a small white house with green blinds standing 

56 




O 

X 

a 
o 



Si 






8 



« 
cq 



ClBufIlrftt0 a Jl3eto Empire 

out on the prairie, when in fact it could be nothing 
better than a log house, with sod for a roof and per- 
haps the earth for a floor. These log houses were 
built by laying one log upon another, notching the 
corners so they would lay solidly and firm in their 
place until they were completed to the gables. Then 
one long, straight log was laid full length of the build- 
ing on top, and one on either side between this log, 
at the top of the gable and the eaves. Then poles were 
placed on these logs in place of rafters, and to fill 
any vacancies between these poles, willows were cut 
and laid in closely, then a layer of prairie hay, and 
on top of this were carefully laid two courses of 
sod, breaking joints like laying shingles, and each 
layer was carefully smoothed down with a spade, 
the loose dirt filling up crevices, and after this was done 
a layer of clay or marl was carefully spread over the 
roof, and it was completed ready for any kind of 
weather. This clay, or marl, was a species of lime, 
and by many was called "native lime," and this made a 
roof that would turn the heaviest rain. The openings 
between the logs were chinked and all cracks were 
plastered over outside and in with clay, marl, or 
lime mortar, and a house of this kind would last 
for years. Sod houses were made by plowing up tough 
sod well covered with grass, so the grass roots were 
well woven through the sod to make it tough. These 
furrows of sod were cut in pieces about two feet long 
and laid in the wall one on top of the other, smoothing 
down the rough places in the sod with a spade, using 
the loose dirt to fill up the joints where two pieces 
were joined together, and in this way the sod walls 
were built; and the covering was made the same 
as on the log houses. Some people plastered their sod 
houses with marl or lime mortar, just as brick or stone 

57 



'BuilDing a i^eto OBmpire 

walls are plastered. Lumber for floors was so far 
distant that but few could spare the time and ex- 
pense of enjoying the luxury, but used the natural 
ground for floors, which being tramped continually 
became almost as solid as a cement floor and was 
objectionable only in name. Homes of this kind had 
been built years before in eastern Nebraska and Kan- 
sas and were still standing in a good state of preser- 
vation. In the States further east, where timber 
was more plentiful and of a better quality, shingles 
were made by cutting logs two to three feet long, and 
these were split with a fro into boards about six inches 
wide, and these boards were used for roofing, as 
shingles are now used, and in this the early settlers 
farther east had a decided advantage over the home- 
steaders on the Western prairies, but necessity is the 
"mother of invention." Just as ancient architecture 
originated from the necessity of providing shelter from 
the inclemencies of the seasons, so has modern knowl- 
edge with the history and experience of past ages been 
found equal to all emergencies in building up empires 
and the nations of the world. 

Nearly every emigrant brought with him one or 
more dogs of all classes and description, from the little 
worthless "fist" to the mastifif and the bull dog, with 
his massive jaws, and the latter proved quite valu- 
able in catching buffalo calves, which proved to be 
lively sport for those who enjoyed something strenu- 
ous. Catching calves was always done on horseback, 
and when one or more was singled out from the 
herds by the horsemen, the dogs were brought into 
the game and a short run with the dogs and horses 
would catch a calf, when the horseman would dis- 
mount and tie the calf with ropes carried for that 
purpose, while the dogs held it. Sometimes the 

58 



'Buiining a jl3eta) (JBmpite 

mother would move off with the herd, and would often 
return in defense of her young, and in such cases 
the only safe proposition was to shoot the mother, for 
under such conditions she was desperate and would 
gore to death either horse or rider, and would fight to 
death for her young. Some in hunting calves caught 
them with a noose in a rope dropped over the calf's 
neck. In these cases no dogs were used. Cowboys 
often caught calves with their lariat ropes, and some 
of the more daring homesteaders with good mounts 
caught calves in this manner and threw and tied 
them. This was the most exciting sport known to 
the early settler in the buffalo country, and was ex- 
tremely perilous and dangerous to those who dared 
to participate in the exciting chase for calves. 

"Buffalo Jones" and others started herds of domes- 
tic buffalo by catching the calves in the manner de- 
scribed and raising them with domestic cattle, when 
they became as docile as other animals raised on a 
farm. 

Full-grown buffalo were sometimes caught by the 
largest dogs and held until they could be shot. On 
one occasion a large buffalo bull was caught, thrown 
and tied on a wager by two Mexican herders passing 
through with a herd of Texas cattle. This feat was 
performed by one man throwing his rope over the 
short horns of the animal, and the other throwing 
his rope in a loop catching the hind feet, and when 
the two ropes were fast the horses were quickly turned 
in opposite directions and the animal brought down on 
broadside and held there by the trained horses until 
he could be shot by one of the riders. This feat 
was seldom performed on the plains, catching a full- 
grown buffalo bull by two horsemen, but this was an 
actual occurrence. 

59 



Men who rode the plains and handled tliese wild 
Texas cattle became experts with the rope, but none, 
to my knowledge, had the nerve to rope and tie a 
full-grown buffalo, and this single case of these two 
Mexicans was the only circumstance of the kind that 
I ever heard or knew of its being done successfully, 
with a full-grown animal, although the roping of 
calves and yearlings were often done. 

A few hunters on the big prairies hunted on horse- 
back, with swift, well-trained horses, by running to a 
herd and shooting from the saddle. This was ex- 
citing in the extreme, and none but the expert horse- 
man, with the swift-running, sure-footed, well-trained 
horse could hunt in this manner. This manner of 
hunting often caused the buffalo to change their 
range, it having a tendency to scare them more than 
the hunting on foot. Such hunters as "California Joe," 
"Wild Bill" Schoonover, Cole, and others, who made 
hunting a business, always hunted on foot, and would 
kill more game with a less risk of losing Hfe or limb 
than the horseback hunter. 

Matlax was a trained hunter and a hardy frontiers- 
man, a finished scholar, an artist of ability, and made 
hunting and trapping his business. He was genial in 
every sense of the word, but always refrained from 
talking of his relatives. He admitted that he was 
raised in Pennsylvania, but when questioned further 
would drift the conversation to his experience in the 
West. 

As he and Tan sat in the shade of a box-alder tree 
Matlax related some of his experiences of the previous 
winter out beyond the settlement. Said he hired a man 
at the stockade to take him up on the Beaver with 
his tent, traps, and camp equipment, and provisions 
sufficient to last the entire winter, and went west 

60 



'Bull Ding a il3eto OBmplte 

about sixty miles beyond the stockade with no settle- 
ments nearer, except, perhaps, a few on the Republi- 
can River which might be a few miles nearer, and 
here he made his camp for the winter. Here he lived 
alone from October till April, spending his time in 
setting and watching his traps, killing such wild ani- 
mals as had valuable pelts, and caring for the skins of 
fur-bearing animals caught in his traps, not a white 
man in the hearing of his voice, or even within the 
hearing of the report of his big fifty gun, except oc- 
casionally a band of Indians, or a hunting party com- 
posed of white men from the settlements further east, 
who called on him, and sometimes camped with him 
for a day or two, which helped to break the lonely 
monotony ; but for weeks he would not hear the sound 
of a human voice, or the neighing of a horse, unless 
perhaps he might hear a wild horse calling for its 
associates. 

All hunters, trappers and men accustomed to life 
on the plains, provided protection against the small 
striped skunk which were very numerous, and were 
dreaded much more than the rattlesnake, for many of 
the frontiersmen had learned, to their sorrow, that 
the bite of one of these little animals would cause 
hydrophobia from which there was no relief, and 
death followed in a few days. They were always seen 
around camp grounds, were aggressive and fearless, 
and seemed to have no dread or fear of man or beast. 
The experienced campers would either enclose their 
tents so these little rodents could not enter, sleep in 
their wagons or build up a bunk with small poles 
high enough so these little animals could not reach 
them, on which they slept with safety. These little 
animals, hardly as large as a common house cat, had 
no fear of man or beast, and seemed to realize that all 

6i 



ISuilDing a Beto OBmpire 

other animals as well as man dreaded their "flowing 
extract" almost as much as their fatal bite. Prowling 
wolves carried ofif and devoured the carcasses of the 
fur-bearing animals killed and trapped after the pelts 
had been removed. Grey wolves, large and small, 
were very common, and an occasional black wolf as 
large as an African lion, would appear on the scene, 
and on one occasion he watched from his camp a 
pair of these black wolves catch a full-grown buffalo 
cow, hamstring her and in a very short time had the 
cow killed and were devouring a portion of the carcass. 
One bright frosty morning while making the rounds 
of his traps with his trusty rifle, to gather the animals 
caught during the night, he saw, some seventy-five 
paces away, a huge mountain lion attempting to tear 
loose from the trap a beaver caught during the night 
previous, and fortunately the lion was discovered in 
the act before the animal had discovered the man. 
The trusty rifle was brought in range, a loud report, 
a terrific howl from the mountain lion, and a rush 
made in the direction from where the shot had come. 
On came the ferocious brute by bounds, but partially 
dazed from the eflfect of the shot, and Matlax laying 
behind a bank knowing that death was near for him 
unless the shot should prove fatal, or another could 
be landed before the infuriated animal could reach 
him. Quick action was necessary to save his own life 
and kill the animal, and many thoughts shot through 
his excited brain as the enraged brute came nearer, 
but it finally paused in its mad rush, seemingly to defi- 
nitely locate its enemy, he having secreted himself 
behind the bank of the creek. But something must 
be done and that quickly. The lion's stop settled the 
question as to who was master of the situation, and 
a bullet from the hunter's rifle crashed through the 

62 



lion's brain and the battle was won. The lion dropped 
dead in its tracks, and Matlax lived to tell the tale, 
and secured the pelt as a trophy of his narrow escape. 
The skin measured eight feet and seven inches from 
tip to tip, and was kept by the hunter as a trophy 
of his winter on the Beaver. 

On another occasion when making the rounds of 
his traps in the early morning as he passed through 
a grove of timber toward a bend in the creek where 
a large elm tree stood, he heard quite a commotion 
that indicated a large flock of wild turkeys, and halt- 
ing for a look at the situation, discovered a large 
black eagle in the top of the elm tree which he shot 
with his rifle, and as it fell down through the branches 
of the tree, a run was made from the tree by a flock 
of wild turkeys estimated at fifty or sixty birds, com- 
ing belter skelter through the trees and brush, and in 
an instant the hunter was surrounded by a large 
flock of wild turkeys which moved on quietly to the 
open prairie where they rose and flew away far enough 
to be out of danger. As the hunter passed on he dis- 
covered a coyote behind the big elm tree watching for 
a chance at the flock of turkeys, while the eagle was 
preparing for an air dive from above, and the turkeys 
had sought protection from the white man against 
the attack of their wild, deadly enemies. In several 
cases we have seen domestic animals in distress come 
to their owners for help or assistance, but never be- 
fore had we known of wild animals or fowl to come 
to their natural enemies for protection. But the hunter 
informed us that the largest gobbler in the flock, and 
which seemed to be the leader, came so near him that 
he could have picked him up with his hands. 

When Matlax was camped for the winter near 
where the town of Danberry now stands, "California 

63 



'BuilDing a il3eto OBmpite 

Joe" was ten miles further west, and of course that 
much further from civihzation ; but here Joe main- 
tained a camp all winter. Joe had a man with him 
that winter, and the camp was kept open till early in 
the spring, one of the party spending a good portion 
of the time on the road hauling hides and furs to the 
railroad, while the other remained in camp and con- 
tinued to slaughter game. This young man, at one 
time a partner of Joe Cave, afterward went wrong 
and his name has no place in history as one of the 
pioneers of the great West. It is only the men of 
proved honor and integrity, enduring the hardships 
of frontier life, the forerunners of civilization, that 
have a place in history, and their names engraved on 
the pillars of fame, as blazing the trail, and marking 
with the little sod mounds, the path followed by the 
hardy homesteaders, who makes the desert plains a 
home of civilization. Such men as Kit Carson, Daniel 
Boone, and others, made history in some of the older 
States by blazing the trail to civilization, and just as 
important in the settlement of the new West are the 
names of "Bill" Cody, Jack Stilwell, Charlie Meadows, 
as army scouts, and Joe Cave, "Wild Bill," Amos Cole, 
Schoonover, Stout and "Buffalo" Jones, for clearing 
the way and marking the trail for the new Empire 
on the plains. 

"Wild Bill" was at this time near the forks of the 
RepubHcan River following his usual profession of 
killing buffalo for their hides, and while he was 
threatened with destruction on several occasions by 
the hostile Sioux, he and his party stood their ground, 
and the fear of the hostile Indians to make the attack 
on these hardy frontiersmen, experts with the gun 
and pistol, was the only means of grace that saved the 
party from annihilation. The Sioux, under Chief 

64 



IBuilDing a il3eto OBmpite 

Crazy Horse, knew they could kill the little band of 
•hunters, and while they knew this they were also 
aware that the little band of hunters would kill many 
of their warriors also, and with their fast depleting 
numbers the risk was too great for so small a victory. 
The Indian did not hunt much on the Beaver, Sappa 
or Prairie Dog that winter, and the hunters and trap- 
pers there were seldom molested. 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Land Office. 

September first was drawing near when the land 
office was to be opened. Some had homes built and 
were living in them, others were hurrying the work 
of building along as fast as possible. Some few had 
begun cutting hay, which was mostly done by hand 
and was a slow process, and everyone was desirous of 
being present at the opening of the land office, which 
had been established at the new town of Lowell, 
twelve miles east from Kearney on the new line of 
the Burlington railroad, just being completed from 
Lincoln to Kearney. A party of about half the nearby 
settlers was made up to go to the land office and file 
on their claims and also to file on others for those re- 
maining on the claims, and the start was made with 
four to six in each wagon, going first to the stockade 
on the Republican, and from there the start was 
made across the big divide, sixty miles without fuel 
or water, except on Turkey Creek, a dry hollow, a 
little fuel could be had, which was about fifteen miles 
from the stockade, but water must be carried both for 
the men and the teams. 

The start was made and at the crossing of Turkey 
Creek we found a lone, solitary Swede, who intro- 

65 



IBuilDittg a Betai CBmpire 

duced himself to the party, saying: "I vas a Svede 
man, an' me vork in Viscondsin vor Melican man 
dwendy dollar mond an' com her dis zummer do make 
me von omstead; me bild von pig zod house an' von 
stable and dig me von well boud one hunderd feet. 
Den me keeps von ranch." 

Asked where he got water while he was digging his 
well, he said : "Veil ven id rains much me ged vader 
in der deep holes by der greek down, den ven der is no 
rain me haul vader den miles. Me dink dis makes a 
fine gundry; no vader, no Ingen. Ingen go vere 
much vader; no Ingen here." 

On we went leaving the Swede to his solitude, and 
on the big divide, about half way between Lowell 
and the Republican River we found some men camped 
and digging a well, who informed us that the in- 
tention was to build a big barn and a ranch house 
to be known as Walkers Ranch, to provide feed and 
shelter for travelers, and the well to furnish water at a 
nominal price for the people and stock that were com- 
pelled to cross the big divide. Water was being 
hauled thirty miles to supply this camp until the weu 
was finished. 

Tan asked the man at the windlass how deep he 
expected to go for water, and he said: "One hundred 
feet or more." 

"There is a prairie dog town near here, the only one 
that has ever been found on this big divide, and the 
prairie dog always digs to water, and using the in- 
stinct of these little animals, we decided that water 
could be had at a less depth near this dog town than 
elsewhere, and this fact proved true wherever tested 
that some of the holes in a dog town went down to 
water." We learned this lesson from the little prairie 
dog and after this proved the theory by actual tests. 



IBuiltimg a i3eto Empire 

After we gained this information we drove on 
across the dismal prairie, and through the sand hills, 
we came to the new town of Lowell, a typical new 
town in the West, and the saws and hammers were 
busy in every direction, and everybody seemed to 
be busy with that hustle and bustle known only to a 
Western town. Stores, hotels, barns and dwellings 
were being rushed to completion as fast as possible, 
and a magnificent school house was being erected that 
would have been a credit to many of the cities in the 
States further East. 

The land office was to be opened the next morning 
at nine o'clock, and there was plenty of attorneys on 
hand to make out our application papers for a fee 
of one dollar. The Registrar, Charlie Walker, and 
the Receiver, Even Worthing, were courteous in their 
treatment, but always advised us to "see a lawyer." 

Moudy and Stein, and Gaslin and Morlan had of- 
fices opened and were surely doing a "land office 
business," making out papers for homestead and pre- 
emption entries for the hundreds of applicants for 
lands, and most of these applicants for papers to secure 
lands were actually living on their lands, while there 
were some asking for homestead papers on lands hav- 
ing timber and water, desiring to secure a homestead 
entry and take advantage of the homestead law giv- 
ing the applicant six months in which to move on the 
land and begin improvements. 

This provision in the law was the cause of many 
contests, some securing homestead papers on lands 
that were occupied by actual settlers, with substantial 
improvements, who had not yet put in an application 
at the land office for entry papers. 

The applicants for a homestead entry were required 

67 



IBuilDing: a jf5eUJ OBmpire 

to make affidavit that the land in question was unoccu- 
pied by other parties and had no improvements, and 
land claimed by two different parties was usually held 
by the one in actual possession, if he was a real occu- 
pant and had made substantial improvements. 

The contests in these cases were a harvest for the 
lawyers, and many laid the foundations for fortunes 
in their practice before the United States land offices 
of the West, while others took advantage of 
the large acquaintance formed in this way and 
used it for political advantage when opportunity 
favored, and many of these Western attorneys 
became judges and State officers in later years. Our 
party all secured their entries at the land office with- 
out trouble or hindrance of any kind, and after making 
some needed purchases of provisions, clothing and am- 
munition were ready for the return trip over the 
big divide. 

One of our party to the land office was our dis- 
tinguished friend and neighbor, Mas Yamo, the Mis- 
souri preacher, a man who would be classed as il- 
literate, yet in his uncouth way could preach a power- 
ful sermon and could quote Scripture day after day 
without referring to a Bible. He claimed to be of 
the Baptist persuasion, but from his appearance he 
had never taken water, except inwardly. As stated 
in our first introduction of this particular character, 
he was a powerful man physically, standing six feet 
and four inches, and weighing two hundred and forty 
pounds, and boasted of the fact that he had never 
been knocked down by man, beast, or steam power, 
and his appearance indicated the statement to be 
true. His hair hung down in rolls on his shoulders 
and he said it had not been cut since "before de wah." 
He claimed to have come from "old Missouri," but one 

68 



IBuilding a n^eto empire 

would judge that he belonged further down the line 
and might have come from the backwoods of Arkan- 
sas. A rumor was afloat that he was in the Con- 
federate Army during the war, a fact that he would 
neither confirm nor deny. He was a good horseman, 
a dead shot, and one of the most successful hunters 
on the Beaver. 

The evening before our start for home he made 
known the fact to some of the party that he was out 
of money, and was very much in need of some provi- 
sions for the family down on the Beaver, and the 
suggestion was made that he preach a sermon that 
evening on the street to the vast crowd then in 
Lowell. There being no places of amusement in the 
new town the suggestion was accepted and a collection 
was to be taken up after the sermon. As the shades 
of night began to gather a dinner bell was secured 
from the new Brown Flotel, and with a willing hand 
and a voice louder than the bell, it was noised through 
the streets that a sermon would be delivered in front 
of the livery barn beginning in a few minutes, and 
the crowd that quickly gathered was a surprise even 
to the ones who had suggested the idea. 

But our hero was equal to the occasion, and when 
the standing room was occupied for nearly a block on 
either side, his ponderous figure with his long, flowing 
locks, arose and without book or note of any kind, 
quoted : "For the love of money is the root of all 
evil," after which he asked everyone present to join 
in singing "On Jordan's stormy bank I stand and 
cast a wishful eye," which they did with a relish, 
as if hungry for some of those good, old revival 
hymns. He talked to that great gathering of frontiers- 
men for a full hour whom he held spellbound with 
his plain gospel truths. None of his auditors had 

69 



'BuilDing a n^eto OBmpjte 

heard a sermon for months, and some of the hardy 
plainsmen present had not heard a sermon for years. 

As soon as the sermon was over Tan rose and 
addressed the audience, suggesting that he had learned 
that the minister was a poor man and that, owing to 
the fact that the audience had been so ably entertained 
by the eloquent sermon discoursing gospel truths, that 
at least three or four men present pass their hats and 
take up a collection for the benefit of this able and 
eloquent orator of gospel truth. The suggestion was 
met with a cheer. Hats went circulating through the 
crowd and when returned with the contents, which 
was emptied on a coat spread on the ground and 
counted and found there was forty-six dollars and 
twenty cents, and all passed over to the minister, who, 
in a few well-chosen words, thanked the people for 
their generous donation, which was returned with 
three cheers for the Missouri preacher. 

The return trip was made across the big divide fac- 
ing a fierce wind from the southwest and as hot as if 
passing over an immense furnace heated to the limit. 
Hot winds had been heard of as being one of the ob- 
jectionable features to making the great West an 
agricultural country, and on previous occasions dur- 
ing the months of July and August an occasional hot 
wind had been felt, but nothing like this one coming 
across this great prairie covered with short buffalo 
grass parched by the extreme heat of the noonday's 
sun and suffering for rain, which had not fallen for 
the past six weeks, and the test of endurance on the 
teams through the hot sun and facing this terrific hot 
wind with a very scant supply of water, was terrible, 
and now thirty-seven years after the event it makes 
me shudder to think of it. 

At Walker's ranch no water could be had, and the 

70 



ISuilding a H^eUi (Bmpitt 

supply we carried with us had been dealt out to the 
faithful animals in limited quantities until it was ex- 
hausted. We passed on to Turkey Creek where no 
water could be had, but we made a camp and fed our 
teams and, after talking over the situation, it was 
decided to give the teams two or three hours' rest 
and drive on to the stockade during the night, thus 
avoiding another drive in the hot sun without water. 
At ten o'clock the moon began to show in the east, 
and the small caravan of homesteaders was soon in 
motion and three o'clock in the morning brought us 
to the stockade on the Republican with an abundant 
supply of water for man and beast. A rest of a 
few hours was taken here, and the journey was re- 
sumed and that evening brought most of the party to 
their new homes, such as they were. 

On our way up the Beaver we stopped at the home 
of Major Gartin, who had just completed a dugout in 
which was a fireplace, and the principal cooking uten- 
sils were a frying pan and a "Dutch" oven, benches 
for chairs, hewn from box-alder logs, bedsteads, made 
of rough poles, and over the place intended for a 
door was hung the motto : "God bless our home." 

Numerous reports of depredation and massacres by 
the Indians were afloat, and all kinds of stories started 
to cause unrest among the settlers, but the blood- 
curdling depredations were always reported to be in 
some other locality; but by the time they reached the 
telegraph office seventy-five or a hundred miles away, 
the reports of Indian raids, which had never been 
committed, were wired to the Eastern press and pub- 
lished as being at the Swede stockade, or on the 
Republican or Prairie Dog, where a hostile Indian 
had not yet been seen by an actual settler, yet every 
man trying to make a home in the new West realized 

i7i 



that such a calamity might happen as there were 
enough Cheyenne or Arapahoe Indians within a hun- 
dred miles of us to swoop down and murder every 
white man as far east as Red Cloud, provided the 
Government troops of cavalry could be caught napping 
or off their guard for a sufficient length of time to 
allow the red man to make the raid on the settlers, 
which they were willing and anxious to do. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Whistler and Badger Killed, 

Making hay and providing shelter for man and 
beast was the watchword on every hand. While those 
going to the land office were returning with provisions 
and other necessities for the coming winter, and some 
late in the autumn went as far as Grand Island for 
their winter's supply of provisions. Smoke showing 
on the horizon at intervals indicated the possibilities 
of prairie fires, so common to the prairies of the great 
West, and it was known that hostile Indians had in 
ages before devastated countries and destroyed the 
homes of settlers by starting prairie and timber fires, 
and the result could be imagined should all the coun- 
try south of the Platte River be burned over, driving 
the wild game to other parts and destroying the 
range and grazing grounds of the homesteader, and 
many had not even turned a furrow for a fire break, 
nor was there any well-bealen roads or trails to stop 
the force of a fire, but dry grass everywhere covered 
the ground which could be eaten up by a fire, and if 
pushed on by a western wind no power or fight made 
by the small number of settlers could think of stopping 
its course. These matters were all talked over at 

72 



'BuilDing a Jl3eto (lEmpite 

different times, while but few prepared for the pos- 
sible calamity. In the meantime hunting parties were 
following up the moving bands of buffalo and bring- 
ing in wagon loads of meat for consumption during 
the coming winter. 

One morning, after the wind had gently blown from 
the north the previous day, and changed round during 
the night, coming from the south, the ground seemed 
to be literally covered with grasshoppers, and of a 
different species from any seen here during the sum- 
mer. Where they came from no one seemed to know, 
and how they came so suddenly was a mystery. Their 
ravenous appetites seemed to indicate that they would 
soon devour any green vegetation suited to their 
tastes. Will Thomas was mowing with a machine in 
some heavy grass near the banks of the Beaver, and 
about ten o'clock in the forenoon the grasshoppers 
began to raise from the "ground in immense swarms 
and fly to the southwest. Thomas thought perhaps it 
was the noise of the machine that caused the migra- 
tion, but others had noticed the movement as well, and 
it was also observed that just previous to their raising 
and flying the wind had again changed to the north, 
and they rose and flew with the wind to the south. No 
one here at the time seemed to know anything of the 
nature of these little pests, nor had we read anything 
in the papers from the outside world of the grasshop- 
per plague which followed in after years and destroyed 
vegetation in several States, that caused scientists 
and historians to comment and look wise, and of which 
more will be said in a future chapter. We did not 
know whether it was merely an event in the course of 
nature or whether it was a calamity to be made a mat- 
ter of history. 

One evening Tan observed a prairie fire coming 

73 



'Building a JSeto OBmpire 

over the divide from the south being carried along 
with a gentle wind from the south, and in a short 
time was plainly visible only about a mile away. The 
ground was dry and hard and the grass was burning 
like excelsior scattered over a dry floor. Ed had gone 
to Lowell for supplies for the winter, other nearby 
settlers were away at the time either hunting, or for 
their winter's supplies. Bob Armstrong, a neighbor, 
living half a mile away, was at home, and he and 
Tan were all that was at home in this immediate 
neighborhood. 

Tan saddled a horse and rode over to see Bob, 
who came back with him to assist in the endeavor to 
save the house and the stacks of hay. The fire still 
kept moving along driven by a slow south wind, and 
it was now getting dark. The first attempt was to 
back fire along the cattle trail to prevent its crossing, 
but this proved a dismal failure, and the fire soon 
crossed the trail. The next attempt was to plow furrows 
around the house and stacks of hay, but the ground 
was so dry and hard that this also proved a failure, 
and was soon abandoned as an impossibility, and sacks 
soaked in water was resorted to as the only means 
available to save the new house from the devouring 
flames. Faithfully and with energy did these men 
work to stop the fire until "low twelve" at night, when 
the fire still gaining on their efforts was only one 
hundred feet from the house and stacks. The fire 
coming on from the south with the wind and total 
destruction seemed inevitable, with only the two men, 
now almost exhausted but still fighting this awful 
wave of destruction, when suddenly the wind changed, 
and a brisk breeze came from the north turning the 
blaze, which was then soon whipped out with the wet 
sacks, and by an act of providence in the change of 

74 



the wind, the home and its contents on the prairie was 
saved together with the winter's supply of feed for 
the stock. Tan and Bob then whipped out the side 
fire to the Beaver, one hundred rods away, and saved 
the range to the east for winter pasture. This was 
our first fighting of prairie fires on the Beaver, but 
not the last. 

Prairie fires in this, as well as new settlements in all 
prairie countries, have destroyed millions of dollars' 
worth of property, and the loss of many human lives, 
and yet the neglect of protecting against the loss by 
fire has been visible in all frontier settlements. 

The town of Beaver City was located by McKee 
and Denham, a log house was built for a dwelling, 
and a small frame store building put up with lumber 
hauled by wagon from Lowell, this being the first 
frame building in what was to be the new county. 
A small stock of goods was put in and this was called 
a store; not very pretentious, but it was a start. 
The town had not yet been named, and it seemed a 
difficult matter to give it a name suited to the general 
conditions, or agreeable to all concerned. But finally 
on Christmas day, 1872, most of the citizens in the im- 
mediate vicinity had congregated, and a petition was 
being signed for a mail route and a post office, and 
the necessity of a name became an item of importance. 
Several names had been suggested, but none seemed 
to meet with unanimous approval, but finally a ballot 
was taken by all present, and Creswell, in honor of the 
Postmaster General, was adopted as first choice, and 
Beaver City as second choice, and when the appoint- 
ment of C. A. Danforth as Postmaster was made, the 
Postmaster General had eliminated his own name and 
given the office the name of Beaver City, and this, 
of course, named the town. 

7i 



'IBuilDing a jaeto OBmpire 

Some of the citizens of the neighborhood were now 
considering the propriety of having some social events 
called off during the holidays, and arrangements were 
made for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's 
dinners. The first was to be a Thanksgiving dinner at 
the home of Ed Ayers, the first function of the kind 
in the new settlement, and on that occasion there were 
present about twenty-five guests. The meats served 
on this occasion were buffalo, Texas beef, and wild 
turkey; and the Christmas and New Year's dinners 
were served at Henry Moore's, and Thomas Williams', 
with a similar bill of fare. 

There was no sectional strife existing in the settle- 
ment, no aristocracy, no clan or clannish ideas, and 
everybody was called by their first names, or a nick- 
name, such as Jess, Tom, Ed, Joe, Bob, Jack, and so on 
down the line. 

Buffalo hunters were coming and going all the 
winter, and all kinds of supplies were being hauled in 
from Lowell. A party of hunters came in from Kan- 
sas headed west to the buffalo range, but not a man 
in the party had ever killed a buffalo, and although 
the opportunities were many they failed to kill the 
coveted meat, and one evening the party drove into 
the camp of Joe Cave and told to him their hard luck 
story, of their finding plenty of game but none of their 
party had had any experience in hunting big game. 
Joe was hunting for the hides, and cared nothing for 
the meat, so a deal was made that Joe should kill 
buffalo the next day, he to have the hides, and the 
Kansas homesteaders to have the meat ; an early start 
was made to the divide the next morning, and Joe that 
day fired twenty-one shots with his "big fifty" and 
killed twenty buffalo and the Kansas homesteaders re- 
turned to their homes with the wagons loaded with 

76 



'BuilDing a ii^eto OBmpire 

meat, and Joe enjoying the happy reflections of hav- 
ing secured fifty dollars' worth of hides in one day's 
hunting. 

The prairies burned off both on the north side 
of the Frenchman, and the south side of the Republi- 
can during the fall, and this left only the land between 
the two rivers as grazing grounds for the buffalo 
that had remained in that part of the country for the 
winter. Many Sioux and Cheyenne Indians were 
hunting that winter where the main herd was grazing, 
and the anxiety of the homesteader for his safety was 
constantly on a strain. Soldiers were scouting over 
the country between the settlements and the Indians, 
and white men were hunting on the same grounds 
with the Indians, and it was feared that some dis- 
pute might arise at any time between the white 
hunters and the Indians that might cause a massacre 
of all white people on the Republican and its tribu- 
taries. The Indians were in a sullen mood, realiz- 
ing that the white man was fast taking possession of 
his hunting grounds, and that the United States sol- 
diers were there to guard against any possible danger 
to the White people. But the Indian was hostile to 
the whites, and with their anger held in check, fearful 
of the results of an attack on the settlers, yet it was 
known that if a fight between the Indians and the 
white hunters ever started, it meant a war with the 
Sioux, and unless there was soldiers enough on the 
ground to properly handle them and whip them com- 
pletely, the white people would all be killed, for their 
number was too limited to stand long before the 
swarms of hostiles on the buffalo range. Every white 
man was well armed, but they were scattered out in 
small hunting parties, or at home on their homesteads, 
while the Indians were two or three thousand strong, 

77 



OSuflDing a Jl3eto OBmpite 

as well armed as the whites, and were all condensed 
in or near one central camp. 

A party of Pawnee Indians went to the hunting 
grounds, out on the Arickaree in hopes of killing 
meat, and securing hides and robes for their use and to 
sell to the white man. But the Sioux scouts, which 
were always kept out, soon discovered the presence of 
the Pawnees, and a fight ensued which, of course, re- 
sulted in the complete defeat of the Pawnees, and 
they were driven from the hunting grounds, and 
started towards the reservation hungry and cold, and 
a portion of the way through snow they dragged their 
weary feet homeward begging from the white people 
on the route, or trading their meager supply of furs 
for something to eat, feeling sorely their defeat in 
battle, and the loss by being killed and wounded of a 
number of the tribe. Coyote carcasses killed for their 
pelts with strychnine, and thrown away by the white 
man were eagerly sought for food by the hungry 
Pawnee, and when all other means of obtaining food 
was exhausted a pony would be sold or traded for 
food. 

The feeling of unrest was still visible among the 
hostile Indians, and small parties of hunters were 
often accosted by a band of hostiles and if their de- 
mands were not readily acceded to, force compelled 
the white man to deliver the goods, and many small 
parties venturing far out on the range were compelled 
to deliver all their provisions and feed to the barbarous 
aborigines making the demand. To resist was useless, 
as the bands of Indians were of sufficient numbers 
to force compliance with their demands, and the suc- 
cess of these small raids nerved the hostiles to extend 
their raids till it became unsafe for small parties of 
white hunters to take chances with them, and when 

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hunting was persisted in the white men went in larger 
parties for protection. The regular hunters, such 
as "Wild Bill," "California Joe,*' Schoonover, Bill 
Street and others, known to the Indians as regular 
hunters and plainsmen, and whom they feared, were 
seldom molested, but on one occasion when two regu- 
lar hunters, whose real names will be withheld, but 
who we will call Bill Cresley and Rawls Jackson, were 
in camp one evening, when two under-chiefs. Whistler 
and Badger, came to the camp and demanded some- 
thing to eat. Provisions were given them which they 
ate and then demanded more, and on being refused 
one of them attempted to rob the mess box, and as 
he raised the lid, Cresley jumped on it and caught the 
red man's fingers between the box and cover. He 
howled with pain and when released drew a knife 
attempting to cut Cresley's throat, but Bill was too 
quick for him and put a bullet from a Colt's revolver 
through his brain, killing him instantly; and Badger 
attempting to assist his friend Whistler, was promptly 
shot by Jackson, and the two Indians died with their 
moccasins on, making two good Indians where a few 
moments before there was two bad ones. Knowing 
these two to be chiefs they were well aware of the fact 
that trouble would follow, the bodies of the two chiefs 
were safely deposited a due westerly course from the 
camp, in a cafion running a due east and west coursa, 
and covered with rubbish from the brow of a hill. 
They gave word out to other hunters in the vicinity, 
and asked that the word be passed on to others, that 
they were moving east as they feared trouble with 
the Indians. They advised all to pass the word down 
the line and move promptly. 

The two chiefs were missed on the following day, 
as they were not present with their tribes to give 

79 



'Building a H^eto €mpice 

orders, and a general search was made for the two 
Indians. They found Cresley and Jackson had aban- 
doned their camps and had gone east, and west of 
the camp the two dead bodies were found, which were 
taken to camp and buried in due form, which was in 
a tree or on four posts set in the ground, across the 
tops of which were placed poles, and the body placed 
on these poles as its final resting place, his imple- 
ments of warfare and his ornaments were buried with 
him and his favorite horse was shot and left by 
the burial place. 

Upon the discovery of the death of their two under- 
chiefs by the hands of the white hunters, a council 
of war was held under the direction of Chief "Spotted 
Tail," and it was soon decided to go east on a trail 
north of the Republican Valley, but crossing the 
tributaries and go as far east as the stockade, and 
there rush down on the settlements, and in a dash 
west, after dividing their forcer, following up the 
Republican, Beaver, Sappa, and Prairie Dog, murder 
all the settlers, burn their dwellings and drive off the 
horses, thus devastating the whole country giving it 
back to the Indian for a buffalo range, and stop the 
progress of civilization as well as to get revenge for 
the murder of their two comrades, who were tried 
warriors and under-chiefs. In planning this kind of a 
raid it was thought they could make a dash of this 
kind, lay waste a scope of country one hundred miles 
long and fifty miles wide, and be back on the buffalo 
range before he could be stopped in his mad career 
by the Government soldiers. It was soon known by 
all the hunters on both branches of the river that the 
two Indians had been killed, and that trouble was 
feared. Camps were broken and the trail from the 
Upper Republican to the Swede stockade was soon 

80 



ISuilDing a n^cto OBmpire 

dotted with teams going east, and most of ti em trav- 
eled night and day until they thought they had passed 
the danger line. 

The wily red men were not aware of the fact that 
there was a battalion of cavalry camped on the Red 
Willow Creek, and the officers were soon in possession 
of all the facts, and scouts soon located the moving 
band of Indians going east on their mission of murder, 
massacre and destruction, and to leave in their trail 
ruin and destruction. But quick action on the part 
of the soldiers, under the command of efficient officers, 
headed them off with their contemplated raid, and 
after a parley between the commanding officer, with 
Jack Stilwell and Charlie Aleadows, his chief scouts, 
and "Spotted Tail" and some of his assistants, the 
whole band were turned back to their hunting grounds 
without a shot being fired or any blood shed, and the 
Indians were allowed to camp and hunt on the buffalo 
range as before, but the guard was more rigid for 
some time than it had previously been, and the hostiles 
were in a bad mood for the balance of the winter, 
and but few hunters ventured out among them or 
even near them. 

Rawls Jackson went on to Lowell, where he re- 
mained until early spring, when he dropped out of 
sight and disappeared as though swallowed up by 
the earth, and no one seemed to know where ; but 
Bill Cresley was soon back on the range again, but 
made no special effort to find or locate near this band 
of Sioux ; but he and Sol Reese, another hunter well 
known on the range at the time, and who had a ranch 
on the Prairie Dog, formed a partnership and fol- 
lowed the moving band of buffalo to western Texas, 
and hunted the animals for their hides as long as there 
were enough buffalo left to make hunting profitable. 

8i 



OBuilDing a il3eto OBmpire 

A complete story of these hardy hunters on the 
Western plains, following after the footsteps of Dan- 
iel Boone and Kit Carson, and others before their 
time, who "blazed the trail" through trackless forests 
of States further east for civilization, would fill vol- 
umes with daring deeds and facts, that could hardly 
be realized or appreciated by the present generation. 

Many after reading these pages will think 'twas only 
fiction conceived in the mind of the writer that put 
these characters out on the Western plains away from 
civilized life, while in reality these men made the 
settlement of the new West possible. 

"Buffalo Bill" (W. F. Cody), "Buckskin Charlie" 
(Charlie Meadows), Jack Stilwell, and other army 
scouts, the advance guard of a conquering army, who 
knew the ways and the paths of the wily hostile 
tribes, as the farmer knows the ways and grazing 
grounds of his flock, and whom the hostiles feared as 
the bite of a serpent, first opened the way to the hunter 
who dared to pass out beyond the danger line. Fol- 
lowing the daring army scouts came "Wild Bill," 
"California Joe," "Buffalo Jones," "Texas Jack," 
Amos Cole, John Schoonover, Sol Reese, Mas Yamo, 
and others of their kind following up the millions 
of buffalo, and other wild game roaming oyer the 
vast prairies of the West, slaughtering the wild ani- 
mals by the thousand, and daring the hostile red 
men of the plains to make the attempt to cease the 
slaughter. 

Proceeding with the destruction of the bison, croM^d- 
ing the remaining thousands further back from civili- 
zation, and the bloodthirsty Indians going with the 
herds of wild game, made it possible for the home- 
steader to mark civilization further west year by year, 
which in time drove all the hostile tribes of Indians 

82 



'Building a iQeto Empire 

to reservations, and the danger to frontier settlers 
had passed. 

The present generation will never see the cattle 
trail, the wild horses, the slaughter of the buffalo, or 
the building of a new Empire in the West, as has 
been witnessed in the past forty years. It is a history 
that will never be repeated in this country. The mil- 
lions of buffalo roaming over the Western plains, 
and the thousands upon thousands of long-horned 
cattle that succeeded the buffalo are of the past, and 
will never again be seen in this country by mortal 
man. The Indian that once delighted in making life 
uncertain to the frontier settler, and that delighted 
in dangling the white man's scalp to his belt, is no 
place to be found. He has died of old age, or of 
disease contracted from the white man, been killed 
in battle or driven to the reservation by the thrift of 
civilization all around him, and these hardy frontiers- 
men were blazing the trail for an empire of civiliza- 
tion to follow their path which could not at the time 
be fully realized. They were the advance guards of 
a future great country, and but few have Hved to see 
the fruits of their daring exploits in a wild country, 
the story of which will only be partially told to future 
generations. 

The history of the buffalo in this country is in- 
complete and will never be known in full, as their 
passing was one of the results of the settlement of 
the country by the white man, but there was a time 
that buffalo was as plenty on and about the shores 
of Lake Michigan, as they were in western Nebraska 
and Kansas in the '60s and early '70s, Back in the 
early '70s the following item was clipped from the 
Chicago Illustrated Journal, which shows that but 
little more than a century ago, where the great city 

83 



'BuilDing a Ji3eto OBmpire 

of Chicago now stands were grazing grounds for im- 
mense herds of the wild bison, and the monarch of the 
plains had possession of what is now the finest country 
of the central United States : 

"The member of the bovine family, to which the 
American Indian and the early pioneers gave the name 
of buffalo, but which is not the genus buffalo of zo- 
ology but the bison, is now in a fair way of extinction. 
Year by year the Indians and hunters of the Western 
mountains and plains are destroying these animals by 
thousands, and in a very few years the bison will be 
among the many extinct quadruped tribes of this 
continent. Therefore, whatever fact of history can 
be ascertained in reference to this peculiar and once 
numerous denizen of our American wilds, before he 
shall have entirely disappeared, should be carefully 
recorded for preservation. In a conversation a few 
days ago, with Captain Leonard C. Hugunin, one of 
Chicago's oldest residents, still surviving. He came 
from Oswego, New York, in 1833. He informed 
the writer that among his private records that were 
lost in the Great Fire, were memoranda of many his- 
torical events and Indian traditions, which he had 
obtained from Billy Caldwell, the second head chief 
of the Potaswattamies, then over sixty years old ; and 
that among these memoranda, was one important fact 
for natural history that he distinctly remembers, 
namely : That in 1833 in the course of an interview 
with the old chief, the latter informed him that 
seventy years previous to that time, that is, in 1763, 
there was the severest snow storm that had ever been 
known east of the Mississippi River; that throughout 
the region now known as Illinois, the snow was from 
twelve to fifteen feet deep, and that, among other dis- 
astrous effects of that visitation in this region, was 

84 



'Building a jeetti (Bmpitt 

the total destruction of the bison, which although up 
to that time as plentiful here as the trees of the forest, 
perished by wholesale by being overwhelmed in snow, 
or by starvation. 

"He said that some of the elk and deer also per- 
ished in the storm, but many of these, taking refuge 
in the timber, subsisted on the browses of the hazel 
brush and other shrubbery until the snow melted 
and freed them from their temporary embargo. Cap- 
tain Hugunin, in confirmation of the correctness of 
Billy Caldwell's statement, also informed the writer 
that, in the autumn of 1840, while on a stage trip from 
Chicago to Galena, his attention was arrested by see- 
ing, here and there, throughout the prairies, which 
had but recently been burned over, great fields or 
yards of bleached bones ; and that, on inquiry of Mark 
Beanbien, the old half-breed keeper of a tavern in 
this vicinity, and of other pioneer settlers and In- 
dians, he was assured that the bones were those of 
"buffalo" ; that these boneyards, some of which were 
ten acres in extent, were the Golgotha of the bison, 
which, gathered in vast groups during the great snow 
storm many years previous, were literally imprisoned 
in the deep snow and there died in multitudes. 

"Taking together the tradition of Billy Caldwell, 
and those boneyard evidences throughout the Kanka- 
kee, Illinois, Fox and Rock River valleys, Captain 
Hugunin, who is himself an amateur zoologist and 
ornithologist of no mean order, came to the con- 
clusion that it is only a little over a century ago 
since the bison were as plentiful between the Missis- 
sippi River and Lake Michigan as they have been in 
our day between the Missouri and the Rocky Moun- 
tains. That the American buffalo on the east side 
of the Mississippi River was completely destroyed by a 



'^uiltiing a n^eto OBmpire 

tremendous snow storm in the winter of 1763, and 
that in 1840 the oseous remains of the animals were 
still to be found in northern Illinois. Possibly a 
careful survey might find some of these remains in 
the same localities even at this day." 

Although this had been a bufifalo range for ages, 
and no doubt had been occupied by Indians for cen- 
turies long before they ever saw or knew a white 
man, and their implements for hunting wild game 
were simply bows and arrows and spears, with stone 
or flint points, the same as had been used all over 
North America and South America, and by the 
aborigines of Europe. Hundreds of tribes, although 
thousands of miles apart, with oceans and lakes 
separating one from the other, used the same kind 
of spears and bows and arrows. One tribe, per- 
haps, knew that no other tribe existed ; knew noth- 
ing of the lakes, rivers and oceans separating the 
tribes of the earth ; yet for thousands of years they 
had used the same kinds of implements. The flint ar- 
row or spear point, quarried from the solid mass of 
rock without the use of axe, hammer, or any tool of 
iron, and then made into projectile points, knives and 
other implements, that served the same purpose to the 
savage tribes, that steel implements do to the educated 
and trained artisans of the Caucasian race ; yet on the 
great plains but few of these flint implements were 
found by the first settlers, but the few that were 
found were of excellent finish, and showed that they 
were made in the most artistic manner known to the 
barbarous tribes. 

The flint quarries were operated by fire and water. 
When a flint quarry was found, or a body of flint 
suitable for use in making stone implements, the dirt 
was removed and a huge fire built on the rock and 

86 



-Building a iBeto Empire 

kept burning until the rock was thoroughly heated, 
then cold water was dashed on the rock quickly, which 
caused the rock to break loose, and large quanti- 
ties would be removed at one heating, which were 
then worked down into articles such as were com- 
monly used before the white man taught them the 
use of steel. Their arrows and spears were tipped 
with stone shaped for the purpose. Their knives, 
axes, scrapers, and in fact all their implements and 
tools were of stone, and many ornaments, pipes, and 
ceremonial subjects were of stone, each shaped for 
its particular purpose. Some of the stone implements 
that were found on the plains indicated that they had 
been brought from a long distance. Mullers were 
from California and Colorado granite, while stone 
knives and arrow points indicated they had come from 
the flint quarries of Ohio or other far away places 
where the same quality of stone was found. 

Indian pottery was also very scarce on the Western 
plains, and but little of it was found. The innovations 
of the white man caused the Indians to use steel 
arrow heads and spear heads, and the stone toma- 
hawk was soon replaced by the steel ones made by 
the white man, and the steel implements were more 
commonly found than the stone ones, which were 
used for ages before the white man taught the sav- 
ages the use of steel and iron; and, of course, the 
fire arms were introduced by the white man, which 
had largely done away with the bow and arrow, yet 
some still used the bow and arrow on the still hunt; 
but the arrow had a steel tip or point in place of 
the flint tip. 

Many steel arrow points were found in bufifalo 
bones, and an occasional one was found embedded in 
the flesh of bufifalo killed by the white man. 

-82 



'BuilDing a il3etti OBmpite 

The Indian soon learned the use of fire arms intro- 
duced by the white man, which he traded to the 
Indian for furs, deer skins and buffalo robes, and 
they became experts with the rifle as well as the bows 
and arrows. But when the buffalo were plentiful 
they preferred the still hunt with the bows and arrows, 
and the buffalo by this mode of hunting were not 
scared so badly, or stampeded as they were when 
hunted with the rifle, but when the animals became 
less numerous and it became necessary to kill them 
at a long range, the modern needle gun, or the Win- 
chester, was used, with which a buffalo could be 
killed at distance of five hundred or even one thousand 
yards. 

Many a homesteader in the early settlement of the 
great West would have gone hungry for meat had it 
not been for the supply furnished by the great herds 
of wild animals on the plains. Pork was an expensive 
luxury, as when it was obtained at any price it had 
been hauled from the railroad in wagons, a distance 
of from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty miles. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Organizing the County. 

The organization of the new counties in the West 
was among the important events in the establishment 
of the new empire, and as an illustration of the or- 
ganization of the majority of these new counties 
we will take up the one in Nebraska as a sample of 
nearly all others. 

The legislature was to convene early in January, 
and all the settlers seemed to take an interest in 
public affairs, and those who were interested in town 

88 



'Builtiing a Beto empire 

sites, or in the prospects of a town building near 
them, or in the boundary lines of counties to be or- 
ganized, or established by the legislature, were busy 
laying plans for county organizations to suit their in- 
dividual interests. 

Franklin and Harlan counties had already been 
organized under the general statutes, the boundary 
lines having been previously established, making these 
counties twenty-four miles square, and county seat 
locations were being fought out by localities, and 
contests started that went into the courts, and many 
of them were not settled for years, the cases going 
to the supreme court, or court of last resort, for final 
settlement. Nebraska was not alone in these county 
seat locations and contests, for Kansas had like ex- 
periences, and within their borders were "troubles 
of their own." 

The citizens of Arapahoe were awake to the situa- 
tion, and the town site company had decided to send 
Captain E. B, Murphy to Lincoln during the sess'on 
of the legislature, to interview the members and see 
that the boundary lines of the new county were estab- 
lished so that when the county was organized it would 
be thirty miles square, placing the town of Arapahoe 
near the center of the county, which would give it 
the county capital with little or no opposition. The 
people interested in and about Beaver City were just 
as determined that the county should be twenty-four 
miles square, thus placing this prospective town near 
the center of the county, with an excellent prospect 
of making this the county's seat of government. Pub- 
lic meetings were held on several occasions in the new 
town of one small store, and it was finally decided 
that Captain J. H. McKee should go to Lincoln and 
remain there during the session of the legislature and 

89 



building a i^eto CBmpite 

endeavor to induce the legislature to establisK tKe 
boundary lines of the new county twenty-four miles 
square, to suit the individual interests of the people 
in that part of what was then known as James County, 
and this placed two lobbyists in Lincoln during the 
legislative session, each to antagonize the other and 
the other's interests. 

While this locality was busy in attempting to organ- 
ize a county, citizens who had located claims further 
west, were as actively engaged in their efforts to 
have boundary lines established so that a town would 
be located on the Red Willow Creek, where Royal 
Buck and Captain Wildman had located claims and 
hoped to establish a town, with a view of a county 
seat in the near future. Even further west it was 
hoped by some to organize a county in the near 
future, and build a town at the junction of the two 
forks of the Republican river, and these two enter- 
prises had been joined with the interests of Arapahoe, 
making it look like a dismal prospect for the location 
of a county seat away from the main Republican 
Valley on a small tributary. 

The fight went on for the organization of the pro- 
posed new county, and the two lobbyists were very 
busy in the interests of their localities, and the legis- 
lature finally decided to organize the territory known 
as James County, twenty-four miles north and south 
by thirty miles east and west, and gave it the name 
of Furnas County, in honor of Robert W. Furnas, the 
governor of the State. 

During the same session boundary lines were estab- 
lished the same as this one for two counties further 
west, the first being named Red Willow, from the 
name of one of the principal streams running through 
the county and the thrifty growth of the timber of 

90 



the same name in this particular locahty. The next 
county was named Hitchcock, in honor of United 
States Senator Hitchcock, of Nebraska, who was 
then a member of the upper house of Congress. 

Making these counties twenty-four miles north and 
south gave territory sufficient between the north line 
of these counties and the Platte River for another row 
of counties south of the Platte River. The act estab- 
lishing these counties authorized the governor to issue 
a proclamation for the election of officers preliminary 
to the organization of the counties. The lobbyist 
from the north side of the new county of Furnas, 
which had previously been called "J^'^^s," caught the 
man napping who had been sent to Lincoln to repre- 
sent the interests of the south part of the county, and 
representing to the governor that all the settlers in 
the county were located in the Republican Valley, 
succeeded in persuading the governor that one voting 
place was all that would be necessary, and Arapahoe 
was made the voting place for the whole county by 
•the following proclamation : 

SUPPLEMENTARY. 

State of Nebraska, Executive Department. 

Whereas, A large number of the citizens of the un- 
organized County of Furnas have united in a petition 
asking that an election be called for the purpose of 
choosing officers preliminary to the organization of 
said county, 

Therefore, I, Robert W. Furnas, Governor of the 
State of Nebraska, by virtue of the authority in me 
vested, do hereby order an election to be held in said 
county at Messrs. Love & Colvin's store on Tuesday, 

9J 



'BuilDing a 3l3etti OBmpite 

the eighth day of April, A. D. 1873, for the purpose of 
choosing three (3) county commissioners, one (i) 
probate judge, one (i) county clerk, one (i) county 
treasurer, one (i) sheriff, one (i) surveyor, one (i) 
county superintendent of schools, one (i) coroner, 
three (3) judges of election, and two (2) clerks of 
election, and I do further designate and appoint Alex 
Hagberg, Milton Fisher and John Ulman, as judges, 
and Charles Caldwell and George Hill as clerks to con- 
duct said election in accordance with "an act for the 
organization of counties" approved June 24th, 1867, 
and the election laws of this State. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand 
and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State 
of Nebraska. 

Done at Lincoln this 3rd day of March, 1873. 
The Great Seal Robert W. Furnas, 

of the State Governor. 

of Nebraska. John J. Gosper, 

Sec. of State. 

When this proclamation was made known to the 
public, and the citizens of the south part of the new 
County of Furnas learned there was but one voting 
place named in the proclamation, and that place was 
Arapahoe, and that the Republican River with its 
quicksand bottom, was between the voting place and 
half the voters in the new county, a protest against 
the action of the governor soon went up that was 
heard as far away as the capital of the State. Should 
there be heavy rains the river could not be forded, 
and half the voters in the county would be disfran- 
chised, and with conditions favorable, the river could 
only be crossed in a few places, the quicksand bottom 
making the crossing treacherous at any time. A peti- 

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'BuilDinff a Btto (Empire 

tion was circulated and promptly signed by all the 
voters in the south half of the county, asking the 
governor to issue another proclamation calling an elec- 
tion, or voting place, in the south part of the county at 
the store of McKeen & Denham to accommodate the 
voters in the south part of the county, and on receipt 
of the petition by the governor he promptly issued 
the following proclamation naming another voting 
place in order that all might have the privilege of vot- 
ing and none disfranchised: 

State of Nebraska, Executive Department. 

Whereas, A large number of the citizens of the un- 
organized County of Furnas have united in a petition 
asking that an election be called for the purpose of 
choosing county officers preliminary to the organiza- 
tion of said county. 

Therefore, I, Robert W. Furnas, Governor of the 
State of Nebraska, by virtue of the authority in me 
vested do hereby order an election to be held in said 
county at the store of J. H. McKee, in Section Seven- 
teen (17) Township, Two Range, twenty-two west, 
on Tuesday, the eighth day of April, A. D. 1873, for 
the purpose of choosing three (3) county commission- 
ers, one (i) county clerk, one (i) county treasurer, 
one (i) county sheriff, one (i) probate judge, one 
(i) surveyor, one (i) county superintendent of 
schools, one (i) coroner, three (3) judges of elec- 
tion and two (2) clerks of election. 

I do hereby designate all that portion of the terri- 
tory lying south of the center of line to be known 
as Beaver Precinct. 

And I do hereby further designate and appoint T. 
M. Williams, H. W. Brown and Joseph Armstrong 

93 



OBuiminff a Jl^eto Empire 

as judges and C. A. Danforth and J. H. McKee as 
clerks to conduct said election in accordance with "An 
act for the organization of counties," approved June 
24th, 1867, and the election laws of this State. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand 
and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State 
of Nebraska. 

Done at Lincoln this 13th day of March, 1873. 
Great Seal Robert W. Furnas, 

of State. Governor. 

John J. Gosper, 

Sec'y of State. 

This last proclamation soothed the minds of the 
people living on the south side of the river, but the 
attempt to compel all the voters from the south side 
to go to Arapahoe to vote or to be disfranchised 
proved detrimental to the interests of the promoter 
of the town of Arapahoe, as some of their own citizens 
rebelled against the action, and joined the south side 
in the nomination of candidates for the county offices, 
and voted against the sharp practice of the town site 
promoters on the north side, and this very act, no 
doubt, changed the destiny of the county seat question 
in the new county. 

The election was held with two sets of candidates in 
the field, one representing the interests of the Arapa- 
hoe town site company, and the other in their oppo- 
sition, representing the interests of the south side, but 
the south side won the election with the help of the dis- 
satisfied element on the north side. 

The returns were soon started to Lincoln to be can- 
vassed by the Secretary of State, but before the re- 
turns from the south side reached Lincoln a terrific 
storm had passed over the country, blockading the one 

94 



•BuilDing a Jl^etti Cmpite 

railroad, and the returns were delayed until the block- 
ade could be raised, which lasted a whole week, but 
the returns from Arapahoe went in on the last train 
before the blockade, and the Secretary of State was 
informed that these were the full returns from the 
county and no other election had been held, and on 
this representation the Secretary of State issued cer- 
tificates to the ones who seemed to be elected by these 
returns. 

The returns from the south side finally arrived in 
Lincoln a week after the certificates had been issued, 
and letters to the Secretary of State brought no satis- 
factory reply, so a delegation of two was sent to Lin- 
coln to investigate and if possible secure certificates of 
election for the ones who were elected by a majority 
of all the votes polled in the county. These two dele- 
gates saw that their mission was published in the State 
Journal, on their arrival in Lincoln, and when the 
office of the Secretary of State was visited it was 
found that the returns from the south side of the 
county had never been opened, and their seals were 
unbroken. But the certificates of election had been 
issued to parties who had not received a majority of 
all the votes cast in the county, but only a majority of 
the votes from one precinct. 

The Secretary was out of the State, and his deputy 
would not act on the matter. The governor was ap- 
pealed to, who said he would advise the Secretary to 
open onr votes and count them, and if entitled to them 
would advise that he issue certificates to the parties 
representing the south side. 

The Secretary of State was communicated with by 
wire, but without satisfactory results. A petition 
was presented to Judge Geo. B. Lake, Chief Justice, 
asking for a mandamus on the Secretary of State 

95! 



ISuilding a i^eto OBmpue 

ordering him to count all the votes cast in Furnas 
County on the 8th day of April and issue certificates 
to those receiving a majority of all the votes cast in the 
county. 

After waiting nearly two weeks for the Secretary's 
return, and using all the outside influence obtainable, 
with the advice of the Governor and other state offi- 
cers, and the help of duly employed attorneys he was 
finally induced to open the returns and count all the 
votes cast in the county which changed the results 
of the election, and an altogether different set of offi- 
cers were elected than had received the certificates, 
as shown by the returns from the one precinct. 

These parties were presented finally with their cer- 
tificates of election and, like the others, were sworn 
into office, and the result was that the new County 
of Furnas had two sets of county officers, duly quali- 
fied and armed with certificates from the Secretary 
of State. Each purchased a set of books and records 
at the expense and on the credit of the county, and 
each set proceeded to do the business of the county, 
the friends of one side encouraging and patronizing 
those of their choice, and the other side receiving 
patronage and encouragement from those in sympathy 
with them. But the south side were not sleeping in 
their opportunity, and a term of district court was 
to be held in Harlan County, with Judge Gant on the 
bench, and at this term of court a petition was pre- 
sented to the court asking for a writ of ouster against 
the parties assuming the duties of county officers, with- 
out having been elected by a majority of all the 
votes cast at the election for the organization of 
the county. The writ was granted and the Sheriff 
of Harlan County was directed to serve the writ and 
oust the parties from assuming the duties as officers, 

96 



'BuilDing a il3eto OBmpite 

and to demand from them all the books, papers, rec- 
ords and emoluments of office in their possession. 

The writ was served and the records demanded, 
but the defendants claimed the records had been stolen 
from their office and nothing was turned over, but it 
left the county with but one set of officers. 

The people interested in the development of the 
town of Arapahoe had voted on the location of the 
county seat at the election for the organization of 
the county, with the intention if they had been suc- 
cessful in the election, to declare the county seat duly 
located at Arapahoe, and in this manner to hold it 
indefinitely, but the statute provided that when an 
election was called for the organization of a county 
the commissioners elected should locate a temporary 
county seat, and at the general election following 
an election should be called for the location of a 
permanent county seat, and this the legally elected 
county officers did at the election following. 

This writ of ouster proved a hard blow on the 
promoters of the town site of Arapahoe, as they had 
not expected so much opposition by a band of home- 
steaders from a portion of the county practically un- 
known when the Arapahoe town site company had 
been organized. But such is the history of the settle- 
ment of new countries. Towns were started with 
bright prospects of future prosperity, and for reasons 
unseen at the time would pass into oblivion, and would 
soon be forgotten by the inhabitants, and future 
generations knew them not. They passed as an event 
unrecorded in the history of the country where they 
once existed, and were known no more. While some 
progressed and forgot their defeat of the purpose for 
which they were originated, others fell at the first 
defeat and were known no more to future generations. 

97 



IBuilding a Beto empire 

Now we will turn back to the troublesome Indians 
of the several Sioux tribes with which the Government 
had trouble for many years, and who were causing 
more or less trouble and anxiety among the settlers, 
who very well knew that if the Government released 
their watch of the movement of the Indians, or if the 
military were called from the frontier, that a massacre 
could not be avoided. While the soldiers were relent- 
less in their watch over the movements of the Sioux, 
the Indians were just as eager in their watch over 
the movements of the military, and no move of impor- 
tance was made by the soldiers that the Indians did 
not know in a very short time. They constantly 
had spies or scouts out to learn of any movements of 
importance, and the different camps of the hunters 
were known by all the tribes within a distance of one 
hundred miles or more, and in case a friendly band 
of Indians appeared on a hunting expedition, they 
were at once located and driven away by the Sioux 
warriors. 

Their mode of signaling information from one 
place to another was never fully understood by the 
white man, but it is a well-established fact that they 
had modes or systems of signaling, one being by 
mirrors flashing signals from hill to hill, across coun- 
try carrying messages long distances in short intervals, 
passing the flashlight from one signal station to an- 
other. This mode, of course, was adopted after the 
white man had introduced the mirror. Another mode 
of signals was by building fires on prominent eleva- 
tions, while another, miles away, would take the mes- 
sage of fire, build another and pass the message on 
in this manner to another station, and in this way 
messages of a battle or other important event could 
be passed for perhaps a hundred miles in a very short 

98 



OBuilDinff a il3eU) empire 

space of time. The peculiar manner in which the 
fire was built had its meaning to the savages of the 
plains, and in this way messages have been sent miles 
away from one camp to another, and no doubt this 
mode of signaling has been used by the savages for 
ages, and they understood their signals of fire as our 
trained experts understand the code of the signal corps 
of the United States army. 

Garrisons of United States soldiers were main- 
tained at Fort Hayes, Kansas, Fort Kearney, Fort 
Robinson, Fort McPherson and Sidney. Fort Rob^ 
inson was also known as Red Cloud Agency. Fort 
Kearney was now an old military post, having been 
established in 1848 by the United States Government 
as a frontier outpost when emigration began crossing 
the plains, and for many years was a post of great 
importance in guarding the frontier, and no doubt the 
occupation of this garrison prevented the annihilation 
of many parties of emigrants in their efforts to cross 
the great plains. Red Cloud, when in his glory as 
head chief of all the Sioux tribes of Indians had 
avoided this fort in his determined wars against the 
whites, and had made repeated raids down the Platte 
Valley leaving a trail of blood and desolation in his 
path, the horrors of which have never been written, 
and but few, if any, now living could tell the story 
of the fiendish crimes committed on those raids. 

Fort Kearney was named in honor of General 
Phil Kearney, a gallant general of the United States 
army, but at the time of these scenes in the West 
was only used as a reserve station, and only a squad 
or company of soldiers were kept there, the posts fur- 
ther west being of more importance, and in closer 
touch with the treacherous and troublesome Sioux. 

During the fall and winter months the ground was 

99 



'BuilDing a Jl^eto O^mpire 

very dry and the settlers, as well as the hunters were 
troubled with their wagon tires becoming loose, and 
many a breakdown was the result, and the Missouri 
elder riding up to Tan's one day, Tan asked him how 
he managed to keep his wagon tires on as there was 
no blacksmith in the country, and no way to have them 
set or tightened. 

"That's a mighty easy thing to do, and I will just 
help you set your tires so you will have no more 
trouble." 

And again we found that "necessity was the mother 
of invention." We went to work under the Parson's 
instructions. The tires were all loose, with the ex- 
ceptions that a few wedges had been driven in to 
hold the tires on temporarily. The tires were first 
removed, and buffalo hides were cut in strips about 
three inches wide and these were tacked to the felloes 
as tight as they could be drawn, first being soaked in 
water. Then a fire was built, and the tires well heated 
and put on the wheels just as a blacksmith would put 
them on after making them shorter, and the job was 
soon done, and just as durable as if a blacksmith had 
done the work, and Tan asked the "Parson" where 
he caught the idea. 

"Wall, this hur idee ain't mine. We ust to use 
hickory bark, or elm bark, in Missouri befo' and after 
de wah, jus' like we used buffalo hide fur dis job, and 
once when I wus out on a hunt I seed 'California 
Joe' set his tires jist like we did these uns, and he 
lowd it wus better than a blacksmith cud do." And 
it surely was as good. 

During the winter months the settlers were either 
hunting or making improvements on their claims, and 
by springtime they knew practically all their neigh- 
bors for twenty-five miles in every direction, and the 

100 



15uilDing a ii^eto OBmpite 

regular hunter, who hunted as a business, was known 
to all the settlers, and such characters as "California 
Joe," "Wild Bill," "Buffalo Jones," John Schoonover, 
and Matlack, were as well known to the homesteaders 
as the prominent politician is to the citizens of the 
older settled communities. 

Our minister from Missouri, "Mas Yamo," became 
quite popular, not only with the homesteaders, but 
spent much of his time hunting, and became a promi- 
nent figure on the buffalo range. He was considered 
a "dead shot," and with his fine physique and mighty 
strength, was said to be one of the strongest men, 
physically, on the range. To carry a pair of buffalo 
hams to camp three or four miles, the hams weighing 
three or four hundred pounds, was not considered 
out of the ordinary. On one occasion when hunting 
on the Beaver, near the crossing of the John C. 
Fremont trail, he and some of his party were out 
hunting and had left three men to guard the camp, 
which a roving band of renegade Indians had found 
and had virtually taken possession of the camp; had 
bluffed the men in charge of the camp, had them fully 
intimidated, had taken their guns from them and 
were about to depart with their plunder from the 
camp when suddenly the Parson appeared on the 
scene, and taking in the situation at a glance, knocked 
down the leader with his fist without a word of ex- 
planation, struck a second intruder with a Colt's navy. 
Three of the intruders quickly broke camp and ran for 
the hills, and another was caught by the Parson 
and thrown head first into the Beaver, and the band 
of six renegade Indians were thus disposed of by 
the Fighting Parson from Missouri. One Indian, as 
he ran away from the camp, leaving his own gun be- 

lOI 



OSuilDing a il^eto OBmpite 

hind, was heard to say: "Heap big white chief; kilum 
Injen in Sappo; heap drown bad Injen." 

When Mas Yamo was on the range he was as wild 
and daring as any of the old hardened plainsmen, 
yet when he returned to civilization he could preach 
a sermon that would be a credit to the pulpit orator 
of the East. This had been demonstrated in the 
street sermon at Lowell, and also at the home of 
Major Garton when, on a Sunday evening in January, 
1873, he preached the first sermon ever heard in 
what was then known as James County, Nebraska, 
from the text: "Lest he fall upon us with pestilence 
or the sword." 

The fear of a possible uprising among the Indians 
west of the settlements was still uppermost in the 
minds of the homesteaders, and several attempts were 
made to arrange for protection by organizing in com- 
panies and building stockades ; but no systematic or- 
ganization was effected, and all took a chance on their 
own defense in their log or sod houses. 

The people at Norton and other frontier places 
were cognizant of the fact that a sufficient number 
of Indians were camped west of the settlements to 
kill every white person within a radius of one hun- 
dred miles if they could pass the United States sol- 
diers, and yet the new settlers took the desperate 
chances of their lives and remained on their home- 
steads. 

The press of the East was continually publishing 
news of trouble with the Indians that was either 
wholly or in part imaginary, and many events were 
published that never occurred, and in this the citizens 
of eastern Nebraska and Kansas were in part at fault. 
Every emigrant on his way to the West was told all 
kinds of frightful stories concerning happenings in 

102 



'IBuilDing a il3eto Empire 

tHe West for the purpose of inducing the emigrant to 
remain in the east portion of the State. It was true 
that the Western homesteader was in danger of an 
Indian raid, at any time, and had reinforcements come 
to the Indians now hunting on the RepubHcan River, 
from Red Cloud's forces north of the Platte River, 
there was not a sufficient number of soldiers on the 
frontier to prevent the hostile Indians from devastat- 
ing the western half of both States. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Wild Horses. 

Wild horses were occasionally seen by the hunters 
on the range in bands, and up to this time no organ- 
ized effort had ever been adopted for their capture. 
Hunters' horses would occasionally get loose and 
stray away from the camp, and if they chanced to 
meet with a band of wild horses all efforts to re- 
capture them were useless, for as soon as a well- 
broken domesticated animal became associated with a 
band of wild horses, he seemed as wild as the others, 
and would remain away from his owner for the free- 
dom of the plains, and would remain in the company 
of his wild associates. A wild horse was occasionally 
caught by "creasing," which was done by shooting the 
horse wanted in the upper part of the neck near the 
spinal column, which partially paralyzes the animal 
for a time, and if the shot is accurate the horse falls, 
and before he could regain his feet he is tied and 
haltered with a lariat rope. Of course if the shot 
is a little high or not just to the exact spot, he will 
regain his feet and run away before he can be tied, or 
if the shot should be a little too low, the spinal chord 



13uilDing a Jl3eto OBmpire 

is broken and the horse dies. It took an expert with 
the rifle, and who knew just where to shoot, to secure 
a wild horse in this manner, and even the experts 
only secured one occasionally. 

After making a careful study of the habits and 
customs of the wild horses on the plains, a party 
of six men, who were used to the life on the plains 
of the wild West, who had had experience in hunting 
buffalo, deer, elk and antelope, had been over the 
cattle trail from San Antonio, Texas, to North Platte, 
Nebraska, and knew the range and customs of the wild 
horse, had studied on a plan to capture a whole band 
of wild horses consisting of forty-two head, and some 
of them very fine animals. This band of horses had 
been seen many times, and if the whole band could 
be run down and captured it meant several thousand 
dollars to the captors, for as soon as the horses could 
be caught and halter broken, they could readily be 
sold at good figures. Men who had seen them claimed 
half the herd would sell from two to four hundred 
dollars each, as many of them were very fine animals. 

The party determined to make the effort and, if 
possible, capture the prize. It was a great undertaking 
to capture forty-two head of wild horses, yet these 
riders of the plains believed it could be done, and 
the plans were laid. The men knew every foot of the 
ground and were determined on the capture. Out on 
the prairies of western Kansas, at least fifty miles 
from the nearest sod house, or log cabin, the six 
plainsmen made their camp near a spring of good 
fresh water. A deep cafion nearby was found sloping 
down from the divide between the Saline and the Solo- 
mon, and on going down this cafion, some three miles 
from the divide, a place was located where the banks 
were almost perpendicular, and at least one hundred 

104 



'Building a n^eto (Smpite 

feet high. A few shade trees were here growing, and 
under one of the banks a fine spring of fresh water 
and the bottom of the canon was nearly level, and here 
they decided to build a corral. Trenches were dug 
three feet deep across the canon from bank to bank, 
the two trenches being several rods apart. Poles 
from twelve to fifteen feet in length were cut and 
hauled several miles and set on ends in these trenches 
and the dirt was then replaced in the trenches around 
the bottom of the poles. An extra pole was run across 
the tops of the upright poles and tied with willows 
to make the upright poles perfectly solid. Two large 
gates were then made to swing open and shut, and in 
this way the two fences were made across the caiion 
about twenty rods apart, the walls of the canon and 
the two fences making a complete corral and perfectly 
secure when the gates were closed. With running 
water in the corral from the flowing spring, and 
everything in readiness, the round-up began. 

There was no excitement, no running of horses, 
no wild chase, but everything quiet, calm and delib- 
erate. The first man out of camp rode leisurely after 
the band of wild horses for six hours, only occasion- 
ally being in sight of them, but they saw him often 
enough to be suspicious, and kept constantly moving, 
not stopping to eat or for water, and this was the 
beginning of the programme arranged for the cap- 
ture of the horses. 

At the expiration of the first six hours the man 
on duty was relieved and another took his place and 
rode for another six hours, keeping the band of wild 
horses constantly moving slowly, but still no excite- 
ment or noise to cause serious alarm. 

In this manner the band of forty-two wild horses 
were kept constantly on the move for four days 

105, 



IBuilDing a il3eto OBmpite 

and nights, and at the end of this time they were 
completely worn out, but not in the least excited or 
frightened. In the four days they had not been per- 
mitted to eat, sleep or drink, or to stop long enough 
for a rest, and they had now become quiet enough so 
a horseman could ride close to them and follow them 
closely. 

It was move quietly all the time, and when it was 
decided that the time had arrived when they could 
be driven to the corral, a horseman appeared in the 
lead of the band and the others followed, and they 
simply followed the man ahead to the corral, followed 
by the five horsemen bringing up the rear. In this 
way they were put in the corral, the gates closed, 
and the battle was won. 

The capture of the forty-two head of wild horses 
had been a success, and when the gates were closed 
the property belonged to the captors. There were 
several young colts in the band that were not counted 
as a part of the forty-two head. In looking over the 
capture it was found that nearly half the number of 
animals caught were branded, and some had saddle 
and harness marks on them, showing that many of 
them had not always been wild. Those having the 
saddle and harness marks were first caught and 
taken out, and when once roped and taken away from 
the wild herd were as docile as the horses ridden by 
the men who had effected the capture. All the bal- 
ance of the band were roped and handled while in 
the corral, and they were fed on grass mowed by 
hand until they could be taken out and driven east 
to the settlements and sold. Other bands were after- 
wards caught in the same manner, and in a short 
time there were but few straggling wild horses left in 
western Kansas and Nebraska. 

1 06 



'Building a il3eto empire 

But few settlers came in during the winter, but in 
early spring covered wagons with homeseekers began 
coming, and the road which had been opened up 
from the stockade up the Beaver, was beginning to 
show the effects of travel, and the bridges across the 
Beaver were a great help to the travelers. The grad- 
ing down the steep banks to the draws, all done by 
volunteer work of the homesteaders was fully ap- 
preciated by the traveling public, and the incoming 
emigrants. 

Some of the new settlers coming in were going on 
further up the Beaver, and the same was true of the 
settlers on the Republican, Sappa, Prairie Dog, Saline 
and the Solomon, while many others settled in the fine 
valleys on land devoid of timber and running water, 
preferring to remain where a fair start had been 
made toward making a settlement, and the prospects 
of a town nearby, while others moved on further west 
in the hope of obtaining claims with timber and 
water. 

Many were the homesteaders coming so far west 
turned this way by parties of hunters going east 
who had described this beautiful country in glowing 
terms that parties intending to stop further east were 
induced to come on further west to make their homes 
in the new empire. The beautiful valleys and fine 
streams of running water, with more timber than 
many of the eastern counties could boast, caused 
many a homesteader to cast his lot further west than 
had been his intention. 

At the beginning of April, 1873, the winter was 
supposed to have passed, and no more bad weather 
was expected, but the disappointment came on Easter 
Sunday, April 13th, when one of the worst blizzards 
known to Western civilization came down from the 

107 



'BuilDing a il3eto €mpire 

north without warning, and with the noise and roar • 
equal to a million buffalo on a stampede, and all 
bellowing at the same time. The noise of the on- 
coming storm was terrible to the listener, and no 
pen can describe its fury as it approached in its 
mighty roar and seeming terror, and the prairies 
having been burnt over, the black ashes, and burned 
grass with the dry dust all blown in the air made it 
as black as the darkest night. Many homeseekers 
were traveling, or in camp, when the storm struck in 
all its fury, and some who had been on the ground 
for nearly a year were not prepared for such a terrible 
storm. 

Tan Myers and C. A. Danforth were out on a 
buffalo hunt, and were camped under a bluff on the 
banks of the Beaver, and when the roar of the ap- 
proaching storm was first heard, Tan climbed the 
bluff to learn, if possible, the cause of the roaring 
noise, and soon spoke back to Danforth to get ready 
for a storm, for it was upon us. The camp outfit was 
soon gathered up, and the horses put in the timber 
which would break the force of the storm. By this 
time the storm was upon us, and the cover could not 
be kept on the wagon, and we were simply out in one 
of the worst storms that ever blew over the prairies 
of the West. 

We had witnessed storms in Iowa and Wisconsin, 
but none as terrific as this one. Near the camp, and 
under the same bluff where they were camped, was a 
"dug out" where a hunter had camped during the 
previous winter, and in this "dug out" the two men 
camped. A place had been left open for a door on 
the east, and over this they hung the wagon cover, 
and a small fire place inside was utilized for keeping 

io8 



Iduiltiing a l^eto (Bmpixt 

a fire and cooking the provisions, which was princi- 
pally buffalo meat. 

For three long days and nights the storm continued 
blowing a terrific gale, mingled with snow and dust, 
and the cold was intense for the time of year. Many 
draws and canons running east and west were drifted 
full of snow and dirt. Further east, in the settle- 
ments, men going to the barns to look after their 
horses and cattle, used ropes as guides, the ropes being 
fastened to the houses, and were used as guides for re- 
turning to the house. 

The storm was so terrific that a barn or house could 
not be seen a few rods away. Several men lost 
their lives by not using the precaution to attach ropes 
to their houses and follow these ropes to the barns. 
The Union Pacific and Kansas Pacific railroads were 
blockaded, and the Burlington road did not get the 
blockade raised between Lincoln and Kearney for a 
whole week. People who dared pass out any distance 
from their homes perished in the storm, and there 
were many homeseekers caught in the storm who 
suffered almost the agonies of death. The home- 
steaders' cattle and horses drifted with the storm, 
and many perished for want of food and shelter. 
No storm had ever been seen by the army officers, 
or the scouts, that equaled this in all their experi- 
ence on the frontier, although during the winter 
months storms had been endured that was much 
colder, but none so severe in all its phases as this 
one. 

This was the storm that delayed the returns from 
the south part of Furnas County reaching the Secre- 
tary of State promptly, and which caused the contest 
as to the rights of the officers of that county. 

Had Jesley had gone to Iowa to visit his father's 

109 



family, and reports had been received that he had 
taken unto himself a wife to share his pleasures, as 
well as the hardships of a frontier life, and his father 
had given him a team of horses to replace the ones 
which had been stolen from their camp the summer 
previous. 

Judging from the letters coming in, addressed with 
feminine hands, others of the young men who had 
taken homesteads were contemplating matrimony, and 
Tan especially, was receiving letters every mail ad- 
dressed in a lady's handwriting. The married women 
were all encouraging the young men to marry and 
bring their wives out West to share their joys and 
sorrows, and all comers to the new country with 
families were urged to locate, and especially those 
with children were urged to locate so in the near 
future, when the county was organized schools could 
be established, and thus aid in the advancement of 
civilization in the new West. 

A mail route had now been established as far west 
as Wild Turkey with C. A. Danforth as postmaster 
at Beaver City, I. N. Meyers at Lynden, and Miss 
Jessie Plum as postmistress at Wild Turkey, and 
Henry W. Brown soon followed with a commission as 
postmaster at Richmond, six miles south of Beaver 
City on the Sappa. 

In the meantime Norton and Long Island, over 
the line in Kansas, and on the beautiful valley of 
the Prairie Dog, were beginning to shape up with a 
view of making towns, with a prospect of another 
town starting up the Sappa, to be called Oberlin. 

As the spring advanced homesteaders were endeav- 
oring to put in cultivation a portion of their lands, 
but the winter had been exceedingly dry, with but 
little moisture, neither snow or rain falling in any 

IIO 



IBuilDing a Ji^eto OBmpire 

amount since the previous September, and the ground 
was so dry and hard that it was very difficult to plow 
the sod, and these conditions continued to exist until 
the twenty-ninth day of April. After a three days' 
wind from the southwest, a rain began, coming from 
the northeast, and this rain continued for three days, 
and when it ceased the ground was thoroughly wet, 
and plowing began in earnest, followed by planting 
corn, vegetables and gardens. 

About this time a rumor came which had been 
started from some unknown source or authority, and 
which had been published in the papers of eastern 
Kansas and Nebraska, to the effect that Royal Buck 
and his party, who had settled on the Red Willow, 
had been killed by the Sioux Indians, their homes 
burned, and all property destroyed, and that a horde 
of hostile Indians were in what had been named Red 
Willow and Hitchcock Counties ; that "Buffalo Jones" 
had lost his team and equipment; that Amos Cole, 
John Schoonover and Bob Stout, with a few other 
hunters, had defended their lives by hiding under 
banks and shooting from ambush, while the hostile 
Indians had run off their stock and burned their 
wagons and equipment, and that Captain Brown, of 
Beaver City, had been killed while out with a supply 
wagon. All of which proved untrue. Royal Buck and 
his party were busy breaking prairie, planting corn 
and other necessary work about their places. Cap- 
tain Brown came home to learn that he had been 
killed while out with his supply wagon. Jones came 
in with a load of buffalo meat, and told that he had 
been to the headwaters of the Beaver, crossed over 
to the Republican, and on to the Frenchman, and had 
seen but four Sioux Indians, and they were scouts 
looking for the Pawnees. The main band of Sioux 

III 



were gone from their camps on the hunting grounds 
of the previous winter, and no large herds of buffalo 
could be seen. 

The following clipping from the Nebraska State 
Journal fairly describes the situation: 

Beaver City, Neb., March 3rd, 1873. 

Editor Journal: — The recent Indian excitement and 
would-be scare, makes one feel like giving the farcical 
affair a little "vent." As to where the excitement 
originated, relative to the Republican Valley, no one 
seems to know, but, nevertheless, some alarming re- 
ports have been started and, being continually re- 
peated, have been greatly exaggerated. First came the 
report that the Sioux were in Hitchcock County mur- 
dering the settlers and driving off stock, and several 
reported killed, but the number not definitely stated. 
Next came the report that the settlement of Red 
Willow was burned, and Royal Buck, with others, 
had been killed. Then the report that Captain 
Brown, from Beaver City, while out with a supply 
wagon, had been killed ; also that "Buffalo Jones" had 
lost his train and equipment while out hunting. All 
these reports were believed by some, while others 
treated them with the derision justly due them. It 
appears now that Red Willow and Hitchcock counties, 
are all free from any Indian troubles whatever. Royal 
Buck and his settlement are reported "statu quo, 
ante helium," and Captain Brown returned home be- 
fore the report of his massacre, and "Buffalo Jones" 
had passed through with a load of meat, and the 
Kansas hunters were all safe. 

How and where these infamous and unfounded re- 
ports originated is as yet an unraveled mystery. But 
they have been afloat, and should be denounced in the 

112 



IBuilhms a iOeto OBmpire 

strongest language possible, as they seem to have been 
originated for no other purpose than to impair emi- 
gration, and such will be the case unless these false 
reports are properly ventilated. But to those coming 
West we will say that two hundred miles east from 
here they will hear vague reports of Indian depreda- 
tions, purporting to have occurred in this and ad- 
joining counties ; but when you get this far west you 
will hear of the outrages perpetrated up about Fort 
Laramie, the Red Cloud Agency, and other places 
as far away as the places named. We have now been in 
this country nearly two years, and in that time there 
has never been a Sioux in the county, and we antici- 
pate no trouble from Mr. "Lo." 
Yours truly, 

N. M. A. 

The reported trouble had been started by some 
unscrupulous hunters on their return to civilization 
with a view of turning the Western emigration back 
from the hunting grounds, and the report was picked 
up by the real estate brokers in their efforts to sell 
lands, and also by the papers endeavoring to settle 
the eastern portions of the States first. 

In addition to the usual troubles of settling a new 
country, the extreme West had this contention before 
them at all times. The Eastern press, real estate deal- 
ers, the railroads, and the entire population of eastern 
Kansas and Nebraska, seemed to be exerting all pos- 
sible efforts to prevent emigration from going so far 
west. While there was a possibility at any time that 
the Indians would evade the soldiers and make trouble 
with the Western homesteaders, yet stories of massa- 
cres and Indian depredations were told the home- 
steader headed for the West, with no fact of circum- 

"3 



'BuilDing a ii3eto Cmpite 

stance to justify the story. Tales of drouth, prairie 
fires, and all imaginary kinds of disaster were told 
to emigrants going further west. 

While the danger from the Indians to the frontier 
settler was great, and the wonder was that so many 
would take the chances. The whole State of Nebraska 
west of Salt Creek and Columbus, and the entire por- 
tion of Kansas lying west of Manhattan and Wichita 
were subject to drouth, the country undeveloped, and 
no one knew what the future of this vast territory 
would be, whether it could be made a successful 
agricultural country, a grazing country, or whether 
it would be turned back to the Indian and the wild 
beasts of the Western plains for a habitation. It 
was all an experiment and we could only wait for 
future developments. 

The Union Pacific, the Burlington, and the Kansas 
Pacific systems had extensive land grants along their 
rights of way, and it was known that supreme efiforts 
by these systems would be made to dispose of these 
lands to actual settlers so the country would be de- 
veloped, and farm products raised to be transported by 
the railroads to Eastern markets. Further west on 
the Platte River and on west to the mountains exten- 
sive horse and cattle ranches were being established 
and stocked with cattle and horses from the exten- 
sive ranges in Texas, and driven over the trail by 
thousands. The ranges were depended on to support 
these countless thousands of cattle winter and sum- 
mer. Mild winters, when the weather was not severe, 
or no snow on the prairies they done fairly well, but 
when the ground was covered with snow for a num- 
ber of weeks, the cattle and horses could not get the 
nutritious buffalo grass, thousands would die from 
starvation, and those that chanced to live through 

>l 14 



'BuilDing a Betoi OBmpite 

the winter were so poor they were practically 
worthless. 

This cattle industry started in central Kansas when 
that section was practically the wild West, and was 
becoming quite an important industry, till in the win- 
ter of i87i-'72. Cattle had wintered on the wild 
grasses for several winters and it was a conceded fact 
that this was a stock country, and cattle would do 
well on the range at any time. But this winter was 
their disappointment. On November 13th it snowed 
and turned cold. Soon more snow came and again it 
was cold. Just after the holidays a thaw came and 
the snow melted down to a slush, and while in that 
condition the weather again turned extremely cold 
and froze this slush to a solid ice, which remained 
for several weeks, and the cattle died of starvation. 
No hay had been prepared for the cattle, and corn was 
a scarce commodity in those early days. Ten thou- 
sand cattle starved to death in Jewell County, Kan- 
sas, and Webster County, Nebraska, that winter. The 
tragedy of the cattle business was everywhere in 
evidence the following spring, as the skeletons of 
ten thousand dead cattle covered the prairies and 
filled the ravines in that locality. 

Many continued the business, however, and the 
industry spread to the mountains on the west and to 
Wyoming on the north, but disaster often overtook 
the cattleman in the same way, and thousands died 
of starvation on the plains. Those continuing the 
business of raising a better grade of cattle, and the 
long horns were crossed with the thoroughbred and a 
fine grade of cattle was in this way produced, and 
as the industry increased it was evident that some 
provision should be made for the winter. Mowing 
machines, rakes and stackers were purchased, and 

115 



'BuilDing a Jl^eto empire 

thousands of tons of hay was cut and stacked every 
year to be used during the winter months when con- 
ditions required it. This furnished work for the 
homesteaders in the Republican Valley and its tribu- 
taries, and many of them went to the big ranches 
and worked during the haying season. 

There was no limit to the extent of the range along 
the Platte River as no farming had been attempted of 
any consequence west of Kearney, and there was 
free range for any one choosing to take advantage 
of it. Ranch houses and corrals were built from 
the timber along the streams and in the caiions on 
Government lands, but in the early days no one seemed 
to take much interest in conserving the natural re- 
sources. 

During June and July of each year extra forces 
of "cowboys" were employed by the ranchmen, and 
a general round-up was engaged in, and all cattle 
rounded up and calves branded, after which they were 
again turned loose on the range. An occasional 
"Maverick" was found having no brands, but these 
were apportioned out and branded. A round-up would 
usually take in a scope of country of one hundred 
miles, or fifty miles in each direction from the starting 
point, and all this country thoroughly looked over by 
the cowboys on their ponies. Camp outfits were car- 
ried in wagons, consisting of provisions and neces- 
sary supplies for the round-up, lasting for several 
weeks. Seldom was a tent used, the men sleeping 
on the ground with no protection except their saddle 
blankets. 

During a storm every man was on duty, and on 
constant watch to prevent a stampede which often 
occurred during a storm. In case of a stampede the 
leaders of the herd were started in a circle and others 

ii6 




H 

o 

o 
M 

Q 

M 

H 












a 



IBuilding a i^eto OBmpite 

hustled after them still following in a circle, and by 
quick work, and dare-devil push, a whole herd of 
thousands were soon running wildly mad in a circle, 
while the rain and perhaps hail fell in torrents, and 
the wind blowing a furious gale, and the herds could 
only be seen by the vivid glare of lightning which 
caused the stampede, but by the aid of this vivid light 
the cattle were kept in a dizzy whirl until the fury of 
the storm had passed, and the herds again quieted 
down to rest or to graze on the wet prairie. No 
cowboy dared desert his post or seek shelter during 
a stampede, but must remain on duty like a soldier in 
the heat of a battle. A desertion at a critical time 
during a storm would permit the whole herd to 
stampede and allow them to scatter for miles, re- 
quiring days of hard riding to get them together 
again. It required a supreme effort on the part of 
these rough riders of the Western prairies to pre- 
vent the herds from stampeding during a severe storm. 

CHAPTER X. 

Hitchcock County and the Irish Landlord. 

The buffalo were not so plentiful as they had been 
the previous year, and those that did put in an ap- 
pearance were hunted by the settlers so they were 
kept continually on the move, and the main herds 
were grazing further west, where it was necessary to 
go for any quantities of meat or hides. The breeding 
grounds were on the high grounds, and where a calf 
was foaled by the mother, as if by knowledge or in- 
stinct, the mother buffalo was surrounded by other 
members of the herd, who tramped in a circle around 
the new mother until the calf was old and strong 

IJ7 



'Builtiing a il^eto dBmpire 

enough to move off with the mother and mingle with 
the herd. This was done to protect the newly born 
buffalo calves from being devoured by the wolves that 
were constantly following the bands of buffalo, and 
the newly born calves were always guarded in this 
way until they were able to travel with the herds for 
self-protection. 

These breeding grounds remained plainly visible for 
years, and the circles made by the guarding buffalo 
could be seen for years, and no doubt some of them 
are visible yet after a lapse of more than thirty-five 
years. Many persons for years who were not fa- 
miliar with the customs of the buffalo, saw these 
circles of an extra growth of grass, with a peculiar 
light green tint and wondered at the cause of these 
many circles, not knowing it was the breeding ground 
of the buffalo, so plainly visible after the many years 
of exposure to the elements and even to cultivation. 
But few of the people living on these prairies to-day 
realize the countless thousands of the monarchs of 
the plains roamed over these vast prairies from Texas 
to the British possessions on the north only so few 
years ago, and now they are extinct except the few 
in captivity ; draw a picture in your mind if you will, 
of your farms and towns, only so short a time ago 
being covered with countless thousands of buffalo, 
that are now no place to be found except in the city 
parks, or with the "Wild West shows." Think also of 
the great fall of snow that destroyed the buffalo in 
Illinois in the winter of 1763, and what such a fall of 
snow would do for us at the present day ; not a train 
could run in any direction ; no food could be obtained 
from the towns or villages unless carried on snow 
shoes, and but few there are now living that know 
anything of their use or construction ; no fuel could be 

:ii8 



'BuilDing a i^eto OBmpite 

obtained from the railroad stations, and food for 
stock it would be utterly impossible to obtain, unless 
already on the ground or in the mows or granaries, 
and most of the live stock in the middle states would 
perish for want of food, although protected from the 
storms and snow with shelter. 

Nature had provided the buffalo of the West with a 
natural instinct of what was best to do in severe win- 
ter weather, and this instinct was to move South in 
severe winter weather when the northern plains were 
covered with snow, and this they did in countless 
numbers during severe weather on the Western plains, 
moving South beyond the snow line, to graze on the 
prairies of Western Texas, returning North as the 
spring and summer advanced, but from the historical 
facts the buffalo in Northern Illinois had evidently 
been caught napping, or delayed their march South 
until the deep snow had made it impossible to move. 

Tan, like many others, had built a neat, hewed log 
house with one door and two half windows, and Ne- 
braska soil for a floor, with the usual sod roof; an 
opening under the door had been left to be leveled up 
with the floor, at such time as a floor could be obtained 
and laid in place, which it was hoped would be in the 
near future. One evening just at dusk he was going 
in his house, and on opening the door he was startled 
with the familiar B-z-z-z-z-z of a huge rattlesnake 
coiled up in the opening under the door, and jumped 
back to avoid the bite which was sure to follow if he 
was close enough to receive it ; he hurriedly secured a 
large stick, and his snakeship was killed: it was gen- 
erally conceded that where one rattler was found an- 
other was near, so in the dark a careful entrance to 
the house was made, with club in hand, and on light- 
ing a lamp a thorough search was made, but no other 

1119 



OBuilDing a Beto OBmpire 

snake was found; it was like the search of a woman 
for a man under the bed that she does not want to find 
and it was so with Tan, he looked for a snake that he 
hoped he would not find. 

Tan was still keeping up a vigorous correspondence 
with his best girl back East, and matters were begin- 
ning to assume a more serious aspect, and it was his 
desire to have with him a life companion, but would 
the conditions justify such a move ? It was an expen- 
sive luxury to make the trip to Eastern Iowa, espe- 
cially for a homesteader who had but little capital, and 
who had not earned a dollar for more than a year; 
and again would a lady of refinement, knowing noth- 
ing of frontier life, who had been raised in the best of 
society, and who had a fine position as teacher in the 
city schools, be contented in a homesteader's cabin on 
the Western prairies, where the howling of wolves 
made the nights hideous, rattlesnakes and vipers could 
be seen daily, buffalo and antelope could be seen quite 
often running over the wild prairies, and her asso- 
ciates would be homesteaders, their wives, cowboys, 
scouts, Indians, and soldiers, and who had never lived 
outside a city or large town. 

Tan decided to write the cold facts just as they ex- 
isted, and to leave none of the disadvantages untold, 
nor to portray in brilliant terms the delights of a 
frontier life. The affection expressed was simple but 
positive, and all the facts as to conditions were written 
in language that could not be mistaken, or miscon- 
strued, so no censure or reproach could come to the 
writer in years to come ; nothing was overdrawn, and 
nothing underestimated, but facts written in full just 
as they existed in the new West, and the choice left to 
her own selection. Whether she would accept the 
rough home in the new West, or the engagement 

I20 



'BuilDittg a n^etti OBmpite 

broken off with no ties binding on either party to the 
contract, and the answer was waited with earnest 
anxiety. 

The answer came in due time, and was read with 
so much interest that he took no heed of the jokes and 
other conversation about him, and the lady of refine- 
ment had decided to join her fortunes, joys and sor- 
rows with Tan in the little log cabin on the claim. 
Tan now got busy, as there was extra work to be 
done in order to make the new home more attrac- 
tive. Logs were cut and hauled twenty miles to a 
saw mill to be sawed into lumber with which to make 
furniture for the new home. No furniture could be had 
nearer than Lowell, eighty miles away, and then at 
an exorbitant price. The logs were hauled with an 
ox team to a mill that had been established near the 
stockade, or Melrose, as it was now commonly called. 

Millions of grasshoppers could be seen going north, 
flying with the wind coming from the south, and 
to all appearances were the same species seen the 
autumn before on their way south, and much appre- 
hension was felt as to the safety of the crops should 
these little pests light down and endeavor to satisfy 
their ravenous appetites. But the wind continued 
from the south and the grasshoppers continued on 
their northern journey until the air was clear and no 
more could be seen. 

Everybody worked with a will, fully determined to 
use every possible efTort to make a home in the new 
West, and to test the fertility of the soil, the suffi- 
ciency of rainfall, and ascertain as fast as possible the 
crops best adapted to natural conditions in this far 
West undeveloped country. 

There were enough buffalo to supply the settlers 
with fresh meat, and much of the meat was converted 

[121, 



'25uiIDing a Jl3eto OBmpire 

into "jerk," and this would keep for months, just 
as our forefathers formerly kept dried beef of their 
own curing. Meat and bread was the principal diet 
of the homesteaders, and the lack of vegetables had 
its effect on the health of the people, and there was 
cases of scurvy all round us, but as yet none had 
developed of a serious nature. The nature of the 
country indicated its healthfulness, being a high alti- 
tude, a pure, dry air, no stagnant water, and conse- 
quently no malaria, and men had lived outdoors 
freighting and hunting practically all winter, and 
had not even taken a cold. This was true with the 
hunters who spent years on the plains in a high 
altitude living out of doors or in tents year after 
year, and never knew what it was to have a cold 
or a fever, nor was it necessary to take drugs or 
nostrums to prevent colds or diseases, the high alti- 
tude and pure air being all that was desired as a 
preventative of disease. The severe winds and dust 
storms caused some cases of catarrh, but aside from 
tliis, the ordinary ills of the human race were un- 
known to the frontiersman of the new West. 

Early vegetables were planted, such as radishes, 
lettuce, turnips and onions, and as soon as grown suf- 
ficient for use they were freely used, and the cases of 
scurvy soon ceased to exist. Melons and pumpkins 
were planted to be used for food later in the season, 
and many potatoes were planted for the next winter's 
use. knowing that a free use of vegetables would 
prevent a return of the scurvy. 

One Van Orton had settled on a claim on the 
Beaver, but having a large faniily to support, and 
he being a poor man, had neglected to take out papers 
on his land, supposing his occupying the land would 
be sufficient to hold it. He had made a dug-out and 

122 



'BuilUing a Ji^eto €mpire 

was living in it with his family and working a part 
of the time on the land, and when work could be 
had away from home he worked for others, and all 
was going along smoothly until it was learned that 
his claim had been homesteaded by a man named Pat 
Roden, and one of his neighbors, Gill James, was 
accused of locating Pat on the claim. Van was a stout- 
built man with a good physique, and to all appearance 
was a giant in strength, and carried the characteristics 
of being very aggressive, and rather inclined to pro- 
voke a quarrel. James was six feet and two inches 
tall, raw-boned, quiet in appearance, seldom talked 
and was far from being sociable. No one seemed to 
know much about him except that he was raised in the 
hills of southern Ohio, and had no friends or relatives 
in the new West. The two men met in Beaver City 
one day and Van accused James of showing Pat the 
claim and advised him to go to the land office and 
homestead it. The accusation was promptly denied 
by James. A few words were passed back and forth 
and a fight soon started. Van being the aggressor. 
Blows passed thick and fast and both men were soon 
bloody. Van was game and was doing his best, and 
for a time it looked like he might be the victor, but 
James was cool and had the advantage of Van in 
reach with his long arms, and finally succeeded in 
putting in a left hand undercut on the jaw which 
put his antagonist down, but Van was game and 
came up again, this time attempting to clinch his op- 
ponent, but the long arms of James were too long, 
fast and furious for his assailant, and Van again 
went down, when the bystanders interfered and 
stopped the fight, James persisting that he knew noth- 
ing about the jumping of the claim, while Van claimed 

123 



that James was the whole cause of the trouble, and 
had induced Pat to jump the claim. 

It was known that a lone Irishman with an ox 
team had been up the valley looking over the coun- 
try, and the last seen of him he was headed for the 
land office at Lowell. Tan went to Lowell shortly 
after this, and in looking over the plats with the offi- 
cers of the land office, it was learned that this man, 
Pat Roden, had asked the officials to show him some 
vacant land on the Beaver in this vicinity with timber 
and water. The records showed that this particular 
piece of land was vacant and he then and there home- 
steaded it, and this gave him six months in which to 
move on the land and make actual settlement, which 
he did, and Van Orton located another piece of land, 
and one of his neighbors loaned him money enough 
to file on the land, and Gill James had won the battle 
and was vindicated. 

This was the first fist fight on the Beaver and per- 
haps in the county. The settlers coming to the new 
county, with very few exceptions, were true law- 
abiding citizens, and the tough element followed later 
on the trail blazed by the homesteader, and the cattle 
trail from Texas. 

More trouble in the county organization was now 
in sight when the parties duly elected, qualified and 
serving as county officers were notified to appear be- 
fore Judge Gant in Chambers in the city of Lincoln 
ar>d show cause why and by what authority they were 
holding office. This caused another trip to Lincoln 
by the clerk accompanied by two attorneys, ex-Attor- 
ney General Roberts and M. V. Moudy, who again 
argued the case, making it plain to the judge that these 
parties had received a majority of all the votes cast 
in the county at the election for the organization of 

124 



'BuilDing a Jl3eto OBmpite 

the county that they had been duly qualified accord- 
ing to the law in such cases made and provided, that 
they were recognized as the legal officers of the county 
by the State officers, the United States land office, 
and that all the county business was being transacted 
at Beaver City, which had been declared the temporary 
county seat, that all county business came to Beaver 
City, and these officers were recognized by the courts 
of the State as the legally elected and qualified officers 
of the county. The judge soon decided that these 
were the legally elected and qualified officers, and this 
settled another question in the organization of the 
county, which was causing grief and trouble for all 
parties at interest. Other counties were sufifering 
agonies of like character, but the struggles still con- 
tinued. 

The organization of Hitchcock County was reported 
at the time as being organized by a select few, and 
nearly all of those present being residents of other 
counties. Of those elected to office, Judge Lucas lived 
in Harlan County, if anywhere; "Wild Bill" in Clay 
County, but the writer will not attempt to give the his- 
torical facts in this case as in some of the other 
counties, but will give word for word a clipping from 
the State Journal at the time giving an account of the 
organization. (The original clipping is in my pos- 
session) : 

"From the Frontier." 

"A gentleman just returned from a buffalo hunt, 
a Mr. Spencer, graphically describes scenes that 
occur in that region that are sometimes ludicrous, and 
sometimes tragic. Mr. Spencer says that the county 
seat oi Hitchcock County is located at the mouth of 

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IBuilDlng a Jl^eto OBmpire 

what is known as Frenchman's Fork, and that a 
house, or rather an original design situated there, 
serves as hotel, store, ranch, justice office, court house, 
etc. This structure is i6 x 24, story and a half high, 
and the siding and roofing is made of deer skins 
tanned on both sides, similar to that used by the Sioux 
Indians in the construction of their tents. A piece of 
well tubing such as is used in small bored wells, serves 
as a flue or chimney. 

"A short time ago an election was held in this 
building for the election of county officers, and the 
town was called Culbertson. The bulk of the voters 
present was 'Texas Jack,' 'Curly Jack,' 'Wild Bill,' 
'Wild Jack,' 'Old Lengthey,' and one or two others. 
While the election was in progress there was a dis- 
tinguished arrival from Republican City, east one 
hundred miles, in the person of one Lucas, who from 
his long hair and generally dilapidated appearance, 
was hailed as an A No. i frontiersman. He had the 
reputation, or rather 'Wild Jack' had heard some- 
where, that Lucas had read law once in his career, 
so he was unanimously chosen county judge. Then a 
justice was elected, and then 'Old Lengthey' was 
elected sheriflf, and 'Wild Bill' constable. Each hav- 
ing voted for the other a keg of ancient benzine was 
brought forth and bufifalo liver and stewed goose 
helped to make a banquet and carouse the next day. 
A party of hunters and trappers passed down the 
valley, and three or four hours afterwards came a 
lone hunter on foot who told these newly elected 
county officers that his horse had followed this party 
of hunters. 

"They said at once that the horse was stolen, and 
Judge Wild Lucas made out a warrant for the arrest 
of the entire party, and Sheriff Old Lengthey went 

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'IBuilDinfif a ii5etti <2^mpire 

after and brought back the party. After they had 
arrived the Wild Justice took the leading man of this 
hunting party aside, and told him that for forty dol- 
lars in hand he would cause them to be released. Not 
having the money the party was forced to give up 
eighty wolf pelts at fifty cents each to get off at all, 
and the horse was not worth six bits." 

Deeds and other instruments of a legal nature came 
pouring in for record and the clerk was compelled to 
devote all of his time to the duties of his ofiice, which 
was held in the small store room of McKee & Den- 
ham, also used for the office of the county commis- 
sioners, county judge, and all other county business 
was transacted in this little store room, and to avoid 
such a disaster as had befallen the north side records 
a man slept in the building at night with doors and 
windows barred, and an arsenal of no small propor- 
tions by his side, but no further attempts were made 
to remove the records, although other counties nearby 
had troubles of this nature. 

Tan left his growing crops and by arrangements 
already made went to Lincoln, where the bride-to-be 
met him at the Douglas House, where they were 
married in the parlors of the hotel, in the presence of 
a small gathering, and Governor Furnas and Colonel 
O. Wilson witnessed the ceremony, and the happy 
pair were started anew on life's journey to walk the 
prairie pathways in the new West, where they would 
soon be at home in the little log cabin on the claim. 
A few days were spent at the capital and then the 
journey homeward. They met a man at Lowell 
who had been down on the Republican where a com- 
pany of them had decided to build a mill and dam 
the river. A superintendent had been sent down 

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'BuilDing a jOeto €mpite 

there to take charge of the work, and it was believed 
he was using too much money for the work, and 
this man had been sent down to make an investigation, 
and when asked as to the results of his investigation, 
he said "he found a dam by a mill site, but no mill by a 
dam site." 

Over night at Lowell and after loading up the 
necessary provisions and household equipment, with 
trunks and baggage, a start was made through the sand 
hills, and about noon took the party through the hills 
and out on the open level prairie, where a halt was 
made for noon in the boiling hot sun, with no shade 
in sight, or water except what had been brought from 
Lowell in a keg. Fat bacon, baker's bread, and black 
cofifee for dinner, but the bride ate sparingly. About 
mid-afternoon a man, who lived at Melrose, with a 
load of freight from Lowell, had indulged too freely 
in bad whiskey and he was stretched out on his load 
of freight sound asleep, and his team had stopped on 
the prairie. Tan let the man sleep, but turned the 
team into the road behind his team, and they fol- 
lowed him to Walker's Ranch. Here the night was 
spent. 

Mrs. Hademan was now running this famous ranch, 
and judging from her uncouth manner and general 
make-up she might have been taken for one of the 
Bender family. She seemed to enjoy the company 
of some of her drunken guests, and the situation was 
anything but desirable to the bride, who was not 
accustomed to such associates, and she began to won- 
der if such characters were predominant in the new 
empire, and if the whole West was as devoid of timber 
as this big divide between the Republican and the 
Platte. Whether what she had seen to-day was a 
fair sample of the new West, and if this woman was 

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'BuilUfng a 313etu aBmpire 

a fair sample of Western civilization. Then to make 
matters more uncomfortable for the sober guests, two 
more teams headed in to the ranch with their drivers 
hilariously full, but fortunately good natured. Then 
the bride did look confused and began to ask ques- 
tions. One of the last guests driving in gave an 
exhibition of pouring whiskey from one quart bottle 
to another without the use of a funnel, holding one 
bottle in one hand as low as he could, and the other 
bottle in the other hand as high as he could reach, 
and strange to stay, although severely under the in- 
fluence of liquor he was an expert in pouring from one 
bottle to another and but little was wasted in pouring 
the liquor back and forth several times. The drunken 
guests finally went to sleep and the bride became recon- 
ciled to the situation, but her slumbers that night was 
none too sound, and the next morning she looked a 
little haggard and worn from the ride in the sun and 
the scenes witnessed the night before. 

Another day through the bright hot sun, with 
neither shade nor cold water, except that carried in 
the keg in the wagon, brought the couple to Mike 
Manning's Tavern at Melrose. Mike was among the 
first settlers in these parts and had made an attempt 
to build and equip a hotel to accommodate the travel- 
ing public. Mike was a "hale fellow well met"; his 
wife a good Irish housewife, and Mike, senior, was 
always about to do the social act with all comers 
and goers. He was a typical old Irish gentleman with 
a perfect Irish brogue, and when he learned that Tan 
and his bride were to be guests of the hotel over night 
his cup of joy was full. 

"Sure," said he. "an' we are glad ye's are to be wid 
us the noight, and it's the best rume in the huse ye's 
can have, an' the very best to ate that we have about 

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'BuilHing a n^eto OBmpite 

the place, an* the spickl'd heffer sure gives the richest 
milk uv any cow we hav, and it's the crame from 
this we'll save for yere coffee in the morn. It's not 
the loikes of ye's that stop with us vary of'en, an' we's 
sure glad ye's are here ; and Missus did ye's ever sa the 
grasshoppers flyin' in the air? An' sure when they 
lighted down they ated the scranes from the window, 
sure they did, an' the loikes of them was niver sane 
before ; an' they can sure ate a field of corn as asy as a 
herd of Tixes cattle; an' the buffalo, sure an' they 
runs right through the town itsself; an' the antilope 
wud stand out on the flat yonder an' wach ye's while 
ye's stud in the dure of yer house an' blow yer nose. 
Sure an' a fine healthy cuntry this is ; niver a chill or a 
faver has iver been sane in the Republican Valley, and 
the foinest lady niver takes cold in the couldest wither, 
no mather how hard the wind blows. Sure, Tan an' 
'Wild Bill' cums down from Hitchcock County las' 
week an' tould us that Hitchcock County was sure 
organized, an' Culberson wud sure ba the county sate. 
Ould Lingthy was shuriff and little Lucas was Judge, 
an' sure now we'll call him Judge Lucas, an' he lives in 
this county, an' a foine judge he'll make. Why, mon, 
he's no bigger than a tin yer ould boy, with a mustach 
loik the beard on a full-grown buffalo ; an' wudn't the 
loikes uv him look foine on the judge's chair in a 
county that has no peepel. Sure, an' if the loikes uv me 
had ony money I'd not loike to be brot into that court ; 
fur divil a cint wud I have when I cum out. 'California 
Joe' was down fur some grub two weeks ago an' 
tould us that he played the fiddle for a dance at 
B'aver City, an' a foine toime they had there. Sure, 
an' Joe is a foine tumbler, an' art to be in a circus. 
He can turn more trix than ony man I ever saw out- 
side a show, an' he can run foive moiles as fast as 



OBuilDmu a l^etti Empire 

the best horse on the range, an' thin shoot straiter 
than onybody, an' it's said him an' Amos Cole is the 
swiftest runners on the range, but Schoonover an' 
Pracher Yamo is the stoutest men this soide uv the 
mountains." 

In this manner Uncle Moike entertained the guests 
of the new hotel with bits of information gathered 
by actual experience, or heard from others who were 
posted on the situation in the surrounding country. 
The bride had been a great friend of the Irish and 
enjoyed the surroundings much better than she had 
the night previous at Walker's Ranch, presided over 
by Mrs. Hademan. Everything here quiet and home- 
like in its way, with nothing of a boisterous or un- 
couth nature visible. But Pat, senior, talked Irish to 
Tan and his new wife till they drove out of hearing 
the next morning on the way up the Beaver. They 
arrived at the brothers' home at noon and for the 
first time the bride viewed her new home on the 
prairie with a sigh of relief, and said it looked just 
as it had been pictured in the many letters written 
under that sod roof. But the change was great, com- 
ing, as she had, from a city of eight thousand, with 
the whirl of business on every hand, the throngs 
of people coming and going in every direction, the 
hum and noise of the schoolroom during the week, 
and the ringing of church bells on the Sabbath. Here 
not a church or Sabbath school in the county, and so 
far but one sermon had ever been preached in the 
county. No chime of bells to be heard, and no rush 
of human beings going and coming, no whistling of 
engines, no rumbling of the loaded trains over the 
iron rails, no call to labor from the machine shops, 
factories or mills, no delivery boys with your daily 
supply of provisions, no Dagoes calling out their 



'BuilDing a jQeto OBmpire 

wares, no peddlers to insist on selling their wares to 
the housewife, and no aristocratic afternoon calls or 
fashionable evening parties or lawn socials. 

All these luxuries of the East were unknown on the 
frontier, and would they ever be a reality in our 
lifetime in this wild country ? Or would we live along 
for a few years partaking of the hardships of a fron- 
tier life, and finally abandon the country as worth- 
less? Or would the country prosper as other new 
countries had done, and would we live to see a pros- 
perous country, and tell to the new people coming in 
in later years of our experience in the years past, and 
the hardships endured in the first settlement of the 
country. This was as fine a valley to look upon as 
man would wish to see, some two miles or more in 
width, inhabited now with a few homesteaders, plenty 
of prairie dogs, rattlesnakes and vipers, a stream 
of water running down through the center of the 
valley, fringed on either side with a growth of timber, 
and in less than a mile to the south of this little home 
was the gradual slope of the ground upward to the 
divide. An occasional straggling buffalo or a small 
band of them could be seen from the house moving 
across the valley, and antelope almost as plentiful, 
passing in the sunhght, while wolves were as plentiful 
as hounds and cur dogs are in the backwoods of Ar- 
kansas. The contrast of scenery and conditions be- 
tween the East and the wild West were the two ex- 
tremes, but the young people were content with the 
situation, fully determined to improve the home in 
the new West, and if prosperity mingled with the 
conditions, to "grow up with the country." 

The people were sociable and neighbors came for 
miles to greet the new bride, and these visits made 
conditions as pleasant as could be under the circum- 

132 



IBuiMnq a ii3ehi OBmpire 

stances. On the Sunday following their arrival at 
the new home Dr. George A. Hobson preached the 
first sermon ever heard in Beaver City. Dr. Hobson 
was a recent arrival from Iowa and it was suggested 
that he preach in a log house adjoining the new town, 
which he did, and the people had the opportunity of 
hearing their first sermon. There was no pulpit for 
the minister's convenience, neither was there any pews, 
reserved or not reserved, but hewed logs had been put 
in place to receive the floor when it was to be put 
in place in the near future, and these logs served as 
seats for the audience, who no doubt enjoyed the meet- 
ing as well as their friends in the East, who attended 
divine worship in the stately, well-furnished churches 
of the Eastern towns and cities. The logs were per- 
haps not as comfortable as some of the Eastern 
church pews, but they answered the purpose, and 
the people were making history for the new empire. 

The cattle trail started the year before was becom- 
ing well worn by this time, and every week or two 
a herd of two or four thousand head passed over 
the trail headed for the Northwest, and some of the 
men who passed over the trail the year before were 
recognized on the drive again this year, and many 
stopped at the little log cabin on the claim for a good 
cool drink of well water, or wanting to buy melons, 
or other eatables, and late in the summer many 
melons were sold to the cowboys by settlers who 
lived near the trail. The cowboys returned over the 
trail in the early fall with their ponies, some of which 
were used for pack animals for carrying the camp 
outfits, consisting of provisions, cooking utensils, and 
occasionally a tent was carried, but this was con- 
sidered a useless luxury by most of the cow men. 

All these conditions helped to break the monotony 

133: 



of a lonely frontier life. The novelty of the sur- 
roundings were fascinating in the extreme, and when 
a gloomy hour seemed to cast a shadow over the new 
homes something would surely happen to make the 
surroundings more cheerful or exciting. A visit from 
a neighbor, a herd of Texas cattle, a new settler 
coming to the new empire, a buffalo chase, a buffalo, 
or an antelope shot from your own doorstep, or killed 
while it ran through the town, served as gossip and 
excitement or amusement for the people. A rattle- 
snake or viper or other venomous serpent frequently 
made its way through the open door of the rough 
houses, which caused pandemonium to reign supreme 
in the little home until his snakeship could be de- 
spatched. Especially was this true if the lady of the 
house chanced to be alone at this time, for very few 
women had the nerve to kill a snake of large size. 
Some will make the attempt, but in the excitement 
she will fail to deal a deathly blow and the serpent 
will make his getaway or seek a hiding place. 

Tan's bride had the experience of seeing a huge 
snake crawling on the shelves on the wall, and not 
having the nerve to tackle the huge monster she ran 
to a neighbor's, a quarter of a mile away, to get a 
man to come and kill the snake, which he promptly 
did, and it measured five feet and nine inches in length. 
On another occasion, soon after this, when alone in the 
house, she saw a large rattler ready to come in the 
house through the open door, but a scream such as 
only a frightened woman can give, scared the rattler 
from the premises and he was seen no more. 

The twice-a-week mail carried on horseback also 
furnished diversity of ways and its arrival always 
brought the people together to get the news from 
the outer world. Thus in various ways the monotony 

134 



'Building a jaeto OBmpite 

was broken and the loneliness imagined by outsiders 
did not exist, and the true love and family joys existed 
in the log or sod cabin on the claim as that which pre- 
vailed in the model homes, and little white cottages 
in the East, where the inhabitants of the present day 
have forgotten and only know from history, that 
they, too, now live in a country once inhabited by 
savages and wild animals who had been crowded 
farther West by the hardy frontiersman, who have 
always been the forerunners of civilization. That a 
few hunters and trappers had opened the way for the 
farmer, the mechanic, and the tradesman in the wilds 
of the West, where now was cultivated the finest of 
farms, where magnificent cities had sprung up and 
grown from nothing, where the noise of the mills and 
the factories could be heard on every side, and the 
tremor of commerce was on every hand. And yet they 
were in dreaded sympathy with their friends out on 
the frontier who had blazed the way for the building 
up of a new empire in the West, which in a lifetime 
might equal in wealth and industry, their own civilized 
country which had been opened up as was now being 
done in the new empire of western Kansas and 
Nebraska. 

CHAPTER XI. 

General Election and More Prairie Fires. 

The cool winds coming down from the north as 
autumn approached brought the migratory grasshop- 
pers of the year before on their flight south, and as 
had been observed the year before at this time they 
only moved with a wind from the north, and when 
the wind changed and came from the south they 

[1351 



IBuilding a if5eUi OBmpire 

would alight and remain eating the green vegetation 
until the wind was again favorable for their voyage 
south, which in the spring or early summer was re- 
versed, and they would only travel with a wind from 
the south, carrying them in a northerly direction. 
But partial damage was experienced this year from 
the ravages of the grasshoppers as the homesteaders 
were as yet farming on a small scale, but some pieces 
of corn were badly eaten by the pests, and various 
plans were tried to drive them away. One was for 
two men on horses, riding several rods apart, with 
a long rope between the two, and each man holding 
an end, thinking this would drive them away, but it 
proved useless, and the attempt was vain, and they had 
no fears of a bluff of this kind. Another plan was 
tried by setting fire about the fields with the attempt 
to smoke them out, but the smoke only seemed to 
sharpen their appetites, and the more rope and smoke 
we gave them the more ravenous they seemed to be, 
and the harder they eat the growing vegetation. The 
screen cloth in the windows they ate with a ravenous 
appetite, just as "Moike Manning" had told us they 
would do. Alighting down on the tracks of the Union 
Pacific and Kansas Pacific railroad tracks they were 
crushed by the wheels by the millions, and the greasy 
slime from the crushed grasshoppers greased the 
tracks until the trains were stopped and could not 
run, although sand was used by the engineers in abun- 
dance, but the wheels would spin around on the 
greased tracks, making it almost impossible to operate 
the rolling stock while the grasshoppers were on 
the ground. Railroad officials were studying means 
of keeping the tracks clear, and scientists were begin- 
ning to talk of ways and means of eradicating the 
pests. Some claimed they were the Egyptian locusts, 

136 



'Building a i^eto OBmpite 

some the Rocky Mountain grasshoppers, and others 
said they were simply a migratory grasshopper, un- 
known to science. 

The time for the general election was drawing 
near, and the county commissioners issued a proclama- 
tion calling an election for the election of county 
officers, and for the location of a permanent county 
seat. The election was to be held at the time pro- 
vided by statute, which was on the fourteenth day 
of October. Notices were duly posted by the sheriff 
in all the precincts of the county. Two mass conven- 
tions were called in the county, one at Beaver City and 
the other at Arapahoe, both called Republican con- 
ventions, but in fact the party lines were not drawn. 
The Democrats and a few scattering "greenbackers" 
affiliated with the Republicans, probably for the good 
of the country, but really the only division was for 
the location of the county seat. The convention at 
Arapahoe nominated a full ticket, composed of men 
who were favorable to the location of the county seat 
at Arapahoe, while the convention held at Beaver 
City nominated candidates who were just as positively 
in favor of the county seat being located permanently 
at Beaver City. It was not politics, it was not the 
drawing of party lines that entered into the campaign, 
but the location of the county seat was the paramount 
issue. Both sets of candidates were good men so far 
as was known, but the officers elected would have 
much to do with the location of the permanent county 
seat. 

The candidates all made a personal canvass of the 
county, and formed the acquaintance of every voter in 
the county, and those interested in the towns aspiring 
to be the county seats canvassed the county thor- 
oughly advocating their interests. A more thorough 

137 



OBuilDing a il3eto empire 

canvass had never been made in any of the counties 
east in any political campaign than was made here 
during this one, and the ability developed by the can- 
didates and others interested was remarkable for a 
new country, as but few of them had ever had political 
experience in other counties or States. 

Political conditions warmed up as the campaign 
advanced, for really the county seat question was 
more involved than the election of the officers. The 
people favorable to the location of the county seat 
at Arapahoe, had voted on the proposition at the elec- 
tion held on April eighth for the organization of the 
county, holding that the county seat should have been 
located at that time, while those interested in the 
location of the county seat at Beaver City, held that 
under the general statutes the first election was only 
for the organization of the county, and that a per- 
manent county seat must be located at the general 
election following. 

Many other counties, both in Nebraska and Kansas, 
were having contests on this and other grounds, so 
this was not the only county having political and 
county seat troubles in their midst. Fearing that, 
perhaps, the supporters of Arapahoe to gain the county 
seat had made an error in the attempt to locate at the 
special election for the organization of the county, 
they had decided to vote on the county seat question 
at the coming general election, and if they failed to 
carry the election, to then resort to legal proceedings 
and endeavor to hold the capital on the former elec- 
tion. The people in favor of Beaver City had not 
voted at the first election, as that was only called for 
the organization of the county, but Arapahoe could 
come in and say that they had a majority of all votes 
cast for county seat at that election, which was true. 

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15uilDm0 a i^eto OBmpire 

Election day came, and there had been no rain 
for weeks, and the prairie grass was as dry as the 
glaring light of the noonday's sun could make it, 
and the wind was blowing a terrific gale from the 
southwest across the barren prairies. The polls were 
duly opened at the several voting places, and the 
voting places on the north side were closely guarded 
by vigilants from the south side, and likewise the 
north side had watchers at the voting places on the 
south side, and each committee had the names of all 
legal voters, as well as the names of those who were 
not supposed to be legal voters according to the true 
meaning of the statutes. However, there is and never 
was a doubt in the minds of anyone knowing the 
conditions that some fraudulent votes were cast on 
both sides, but not enough to change the results of 
the election, and no mention was made by either side 
of fraudulent votes in the legal contest that followed. 

Many votes were challenged that day on both sides 
of the contest, but a few no doubt voted who were 
not entitled to cast a vote on both sides, and when 
the election was over neither side dared to take a case 
to the courts on the grounds of illegal voting. 

A house-to-house canvass had been made on both 
sides of the county by supposed land seekers to ascer- 
tain how long each and every man had been in the 
county, and if he had not been in the county long 
enough to be entitled to a legal vote he was black- 
listed and on election day his vote was challenged. 
One man canvassed the north side trying to sell fruit 
trees, when in reality he was learning who were and 
who were not legal voters, and when he had finished 
his canvass and the pretended homeseekers were 
through, the question was well settled as to who were 
legal voters and who were not entitled to a vote. 

139 



'BuilDing a s^tto OBmpite 

There were but few orders taken for fruit and orna- 
mental trees, and the reader will no doubt understand 
that none of the orders were ever filled, but the scheme 
worked very successfully. 

Many of the voters on the Beaver lived east from 
the little town and early in the forenoon all from that, 
and in fact all directions, were on hand to cast their 
votes and witness the proceedings. It was generally 
expected there would be some excitement and perhaps 
trouble should the opposition come over in large num- 
bers. 

About ten o'clock in the forenoon a report came 
to the voting place that a big prairie fire was raging 
in the south, being swept at a furious rate by the 
terrible wind blowing from the southwest, and that 
it would soon reach the Beaver and the lower Sappa. 
All from that vicinity hurriedly cast their ballots and 
hurried homeward to endeavor to save their property 
from the devouring flames sweeping over the dry 
prairie, fanned to fury by the sweeping gale. Some 
hay and fodder belonging to the homesteaders was 
burned, but by hard work the houses were all saved 
from the flames, but the flames swept for miles in 
width, and from the Prairie Dog on the south, to 
the Platte River, near Grand Island, on the northeast. 
Some surmised that the fire had been set by someone 
interested in the result of the election, either in Harlan 
or Furnas counties, with a view of keeping the voters 
at home to fight the flames, and in this way deprive 
many of their votes. This supposition, if true, would 
have the effect of helping one town in each county, 
and if true was one of the most fiendish and dastardly 
acts attempting to disfranchise the honest people ever 
attempted in any country new or old. 

Hostile Indians had many times put the torch to 

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15uiIDin0 a Jl3etu dBmpire 

prairie and timber alike to destroy the landmarks 
of civilization, and the approach of the white man 
to their hunting grounds, but never had the v^^hite 
man attempted to destroy his neighbor's home or 
property for the purpose of disfranchising him of one 
solitary vote. 

Many believed at the time that the fire had been set 
for this purpose, but no positive proof could ever 
be obtained to substantiate the facts as believed by 
many, and had these facts been known positively 
to be true, or could have been proved beyond a reason- 
able doubt, a local war of extermination would have 
been inaugurated that a battalion of United States 
cavalry could not have stopped until capitulation was 
complete. Aside from this calamity the election passed 
off very nicely, but the spotters at the different polling 
places were the marks to which were thrown many 
jests, jeers and jokes during the day. 

There were a few who had decided to vote for 
the location of the county seat on a vacant piece of 
Government land nearer the center of the county 
than either Beaver City or Arapahoe, making the 
three places as candidates for the county capital. 
When the votes were cast and counted it was found 
that Furnas Center had received twelve votes, Arapa- 
hoe one hundred and forty votes, and Beaver City 
one hundred and sixty-six votes, giving the latter 
a majority of fourteen votes over both the other 
places. The result of this election for county seat, 
of course, was not satisfactory to the losing parties 
at interest, and the result was that it went to the 
courts. It hung fire in the courts for more than a 
year before a hearing was had, and finally Judge 
Gaslin heard the case in chambers at Junietta, which 
was then the county seat of Adams County, and the 

141 



decision was handed down in favor of Beaver City. 
Buf the case was appealed to the supreme court, 
and after hanging fire in the courts for nearly four 
years Beaver City was successful in the contest and 
retained the county seat permanently. Her opponent 
"died hard" and fought to the "last ditch," and rumb- 
ling from the county seat contest could be heard for 
years after the question was permanently settled. 

Other counties, both in Nebraska and Kansas, were 
having similar contests, and in many cases resulted 
in the shedding of blood. The contests were fought 
out with all the vim and energy at the command of the 
contestants, and many lasted much longer than the 
one just described. They all created discords and con- 
tentions that lasted for years, and in some cases rec- 
ords were taken from one place by force, or at the 
dead of night, and moved to a competitive point 
with the determination of securing the advantage of 
possession. Bloodshed was common and, in some 
cases, murder committed in carrying to extremes these 
county seat contests in the newly organized counties, 
and hundreds of the counties in the West experienced 
troubles of a like character, and no doubt history 
has repeated itself in these cases, for hundreds, and 
I might say thousands, of towns and counties in the 
eastern and central portions of the United States 
had troublesome times in locating county seats, and 
the strife and contentions of rival towns caused feuds 
that were handed down to posterity, and lived for 
years after the first participants had passed from earth. 

It was but a few days after the election and the 
scenes just recorded when the majority of the people 
had accepted the results of the election, and the_ newly 
elected county officers had received their certificates 
of election, a proclamation was issued by the county 

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IBuiltiing a Behi dBmpire 

commissioners declaring the county seat duly located 
at Beaver City by a majority of all the votes cast 
at the general election. 

The people were again preparing for another winter. 
Frost had killed the blue stem grass, so its nourish- 
ment was gone, and the short buffalo grass, though 
the stems and blades were dry as powder and would 
burn at the slightest touch of fire, the roots in the dry, 
parched ground were green, and a portion of the stem 
from the root to the blade was also green, similar in 
nature to the cactus, which is always green. No dif- 
ference how dry and parched the ground, the cactus 
was always green, and so the roots and lower stems 
of the buffalo grass. 

Cattle and horses were now grazing in the timber 
where wild rye and muskeek grass had been protected 
from the frost, or were out in the open on the short 
buffalo grass which afforded excellent feed for horses 
and cattle, when not covered with snow or sleet. This 
was •:' e grass that had supported the millions of 
buffalo and antelope on the plains for ages, and no 
one knows how long, but petrified bones of the pre- 
historic buffalo, much larger than the buffalo of the 
present day, have been found in the new empire, 
buried in the soil down near the water's level, or 
buried under millions of tons of magnesia rock, where 
geologists tell us he has lain buried for the past twenty 
thousand years. Also the remains of the mound 
builders have been found with relics of barbarism, of 
which the present generation knows nothing. 

How long these plains have existed, how long they 
have supported the millions of wild animals swarming 
over them, how long these prairies have produced the 
buffalo grass and blue stem, and how long these 
plains have been swept with flame and hot winds, tem- 

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IBuilDing a n^eto aBmjjfre 

pered with the cold blasts of winter, no man knows, 
and the scientific geologist can only estimate. 

According to Bible history God created the universe 
and all living things nearly six thousand years ago, 
yet geologists tell us there were thousands of living 
beings on this vast plain more than twenty thousand 
years ago, and tribes of human beings undoubtedly 
peopled this county thousands of years ago. Go 
where you may, to the innermost recesses of the 
earth, you will find people with a language of their 
own, and customs suited to their conditions and lo- 
cality, yet they are human but may be savages or un- 
civilized, but they adapted themselves to the surround- 
ing conditions as did the homesteader when building 
a new empire. 

The conditions were changing. The savage races 
for ages had learned to kindle fires with flint, or by 
rubbing two sticks together until ignited, but this 
process was too slow for the homesteader, who was 
taking the place of the savages, and using the cus- 
toms of civilization, and the little match made into a 
burning torch by a touch, and the little torch could 
in an instant kindle a fire that in a few hours fanned 
to fury by a fierce gale burn over a number of coun- 
ties, or perhaps an area equal in surface to one of the 
large Western States. 

The wind was blowing a fearful gale from the 
north, but it was yet too early in the season to be 
unusually cold. This was the second day of hard 
wind from the north. Clouds of smoke could be seer 
at a distance. The ground and grass were extremely 
dry, no rain having fallen for weeks. It was evident 
that a fire was coming from the north, and as the daj 
advanced the smoke seemed nearer and more dense 
and the wind blew as the wind blows in no othei 

144 



IBullHing a l^ctai dBmpire 

country. The high altitude and dry atmosphere seems 
to help the wind along in its mad career. Some people 
were out preparing fire guards about their premises, 
while others were unconcerned, although the smoke 
kept coming nearer. Up to the north some teams 
were out on the prairies, and as the fury of the fire 
came nearer with a head fire running like mad, and 
faster than a team could travel, a man alighted from 
his wagon, stooped down on the dry grass with a 
blanket over him for a wind break and started a 
fire with a match, and as soon as the fire had burned 
sufficient he drove his team on the ground his fire 
had cleared, and in this way he saved his life and his 
team, for no team could travel fast enough to keep 
away from the head fire being driven by this fearful 
wind, and many were the lives saved on the plains 
from these destructive prairie fires in this way. 

The fire swept on in its mighty fury towards the 
Beaver. One settlement on the south side of the 
Beaver saw it would soon reach the valley and with 
that hard wind could not be stopped unless something 
was done and that quickly. They proceeded to back 
fire along the north bank of the Beaver, which gradu- 
ally backed up to the north and in due time met the 
head fire, and in this way saved their homes. One 
widow woman, with six children, deserted their home 
and went to a nearby plowed field and remained out 
all night. The head fire had jumped the creek, but 
neighbors had come to the rescue and saved the house, 
hay and stables. 

The wind continued to blow and the fire kept com- 
ing from all parts of the northern country. Every- 
body, men and women, were out fighting fire, and if 
their own property had been saved, or was out of 
danger, the rush was made to help a neighbor, and 

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IBuilDing a J^eto OBmpire 

the fight continued during the entire night, and as 
morning dawned the fury of the wind had ceased, 
and a tired, dirty, smoky lot of homesteaders sought 
their humble homes for rest and refreshment. 

The fire had originated north of the Platte River, 
and in its fury had carried fire brands across the 
river, a distance of more than half a mile, and had 
then rushed forward to the Republican River, which 
seemed no obstruction in its mad career, the flames 
leaping across from bank to bank, and in a short 
time the prairies south of the river were ablaze for 
miles east and west, and hurrying along to the north- 
ern boundary line of Kansas, and in another day, at 
the rate it was traveling, it would reach the Indian 
Territory, 

Many were the travelers who were compelled to 
build fires and drive to the burned ground to prevent 
their teams and themselves from being roasted alive. 
No team of horses burdened with the weight of a 
heavy wagon, and that perhaps heavily loaded, could 
travel fast enough to avoid the rush of flames under 
these conditions, and the experienced man of the 
plains knew too well that his only hope of safety 
was to burn the grass ahead of the onrushing flames, 
and there seek refuge and safety till the fiery fiend 
had done its work. 

Tan Myers saw the flames fast approaching as they 
came roaring and cracking down the southern slope 
of the divide, and he with the good, young wife, with 
pails of water in which they could wet the heavy bags 
to fight the flames, and with a rush to save the new 
home, began to backfire up to the garden ground 
which had recently been plowed. Then a side fire was 
run down the road on the west till it passed the house, 
and this was easily handled with the wet bags, but the 

146 



'BuilDing a JI3eto OBmpire 

worst was to come. The big fire from the north, witll 
the heavy gale sweeping it along, was now plainly 
in sight through the blinding smoke, and another 
backfire must be burned along a narrow hedge row, 
plowed more for a fireguard than for a hedge. The 
backfire was started near the plowing and burned 
a narrow strip the length of the furrows, but burning 
back against the wind was a slow process, with the 
big fire getting nearer from the north every moment, 
and the heat from the main fire could now be plainly 
felt. Still another fire was built back a few rods from 
the one that had burned along the hedge row, and this 
soon widened the strip of burned ground. Now 
the main fire had jumped the Beaver by lapping the 
high burning flames over the belt of timber on the 
banks of the creek, and igniting the heavy growth 
of dead grass on the opposite side, and while these 
people worked like mad to save their little possessions 
the fire swept madly on. 

Now came the moment of suspense, the fire was 
now but a short distance from the back fire and the 
flames leaping skyward, and if they should leap over 
and beyond the back fire the little home and its con- 
tents in the new empire was gone, and this they well 
knew. All their possessions were there, and another 
moment would decide the fate of the little home. A 
breath of prayer went up to heaven to save the home. 
The head fire met the back fire, and did not lick its 
fiery tongue across the space. The home was saved, 
and after the head fire had passed on east of the guard 
and back fire, the side fire was easily extinguished, 
and a happy pair thanked heaven their little home 
was saved. 

This was the experience of many during the settle- 
ment of the new West, and many lost their homes 

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IBuiltiing a il^etu dBmpite 

and all their possessions as the result of these raging 
fires that swept the West, with nothing to obstruct 
or stop . their progress. Fires were often set by 
bands of hostile Indians for the purpose of driving 
back, or retarding the approach of the white man with 
his modes of civilization. Campers were often careless 
with their camp fires, and allowed them to spread in 
the grass, and in this way many fires were started 
that burned over millions of acres, and made many 
families penniless and homeless. 

CHAPTER XII. 

More Grasshoppers. 

The herds of buffalo were not so numerous now 
as they had been the year previous, and hunters in 
pursuit of meat and hides were compelled to travel 
further than before, and the animals were more scat- 
tered than in former years, and the hardships to be 
endured in search of meat were many, and unless 
a man had had experience in hunting he would fare 
better by his own fireside on the claim. Some were 
compelled to secure the services of the old hunters 
in order to secure a load of meat. The hide hunters, 
who were experts in killing buffalo, would kill the 
animals for the hides, where the homesteader was will- 
ing to take off the pelts and bring them into camp, and 
in this way many homesteaders secured their winter's 
meat. 

Rev. Mas Yamo and others spent a portion of the 
winter on the buffalo range with "Wild Bill," "Cali- 
fornia Joe," Matlax, Bill Street and other plains- 
men, and the Missouri preacher became a favorite 
with the old hunters. He was a sure shot, a jolly 

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IBuilDing a j^etti Cmpite 

companion, of monstrous proportions, and a Sandow 
in strength. It was said that he often carried to 
camp on his shoulders, a distance of two to four miles, 
a yearling buffalo weighing three or four hundred 
pounds, and considered it nothing out of the ordinary 
feats of a hunter. He entertained those around 
the campfires in the evenings with happenings in Mis- 
souri before "de wah." 

"Why," said he, "we killed deer an' catched pos- 
sum and coon fur de livin' der wus in it, an' wen we 
had a lot of fur hides we tooken 'em to de stor' strung 
on a wire ober our sholder an' de stor wus miles away. 
We'd buy a pound of coffee an' thro frum de string uv 
furs a possum hide, an' fur a pound uv 'backer we'd 
give a coon skin, an' fur tAvo bits wuth uv sugar we'd 
give another possum hide, an' fur a pair uv jeans 
briches or a pair uv canvas overalls, we'd hav tu give 
a hull deer skin, an' fur a calicur dress fur the old 
woman it tuk another hull deer hide, an' this ere way 
we traded all our furs an' skins fur store stuf tu take 
hum tu the old woman and the childern. If we cud 
git enuf furs an' skins me and the old woman wud 
git cowhide shus, but ef we didn't hev good luck the 
woman an' de childern wud go barefut all winter, an' 
ef de man cudn't git boots he made mocisins uv deer 
skins like the Ingins used to do. 

"Furs wus all the muney we had them days, an* 
we'd farm a patch in the summer an' rase corn fur 
bred, an' kill hogs fatted on de nuts frum de trees, 
an' dis wus our livin' wid de game we killed. We 
never red nuthin but the Bibel an' never seed a news- 
paper only w'en we went tu town onct or twict a year. 
It wus so far we cudn't go offen, fur it tuk two days 
to go an' cum. Then wen the wah cum it was wus 
than we hed ever seed it befoh. The Yanks wud take 

149 



de Johnnie corn and hogs, an' hosses, and kill der cat- 
tel, and de Yanks wud hunt out all de Johnnies, and de 
Johnnies wud hunt de Yanks an' tuk all their stuff, an' 
so der wus nuffin lef to eat but possum, coon an' deer 
meat. Sum men that didn't want to jine the armies 
an' fite jest lived out in de hills fur four long years, 
an' I want ter tells yer dat we wus all mighty glad 
when de wah wus over. The Johnnies sed dey didn't 
see why de Yanks wanted to cum down and fite usuns 
fur, an' de Yanks sed if weuns wud go home an' quit 
fitein de wah wud sure be dun quit. De nigger wusn't 
wuth wile fiten fur, an' dey wusn't fitein tu du nuthin 
fur demselves, an' want no good fur nuthin only to 
wurk under a boss. Den de common peepel wus doin 
de fitein an' da didn't hav no niggers. Only de rich 
wat hed niggers an' we wus doin der fitein fur dem. 
De poor white man didn't hav nuthin agin de Norf, but 
we sure had ter fite. We uns down dar thot de Yanks 
hed horns an' carried fire brands nite an' day, but 
wen we seed 'em dey didn't look so bad, but da wus 
sure too well fed fur de Johnnies, and weuns wus al- 
mighty glad wen de wah wus done quit, an' wat fue 
men wusn't killed on bof sides done cum home, but 
dere wus bad feelin on bof sides, fur sum hed fout on 
one side and sum on the other, rite frum the same 
settlement, an' no man hardly dast say wat he thot ur 
wat his politics wus, an' sum uv us cum West to git 
away frum truble hached by de wah, fur I tells yee 
it's like the Yank said to the Englishman when he 
was boastin' uv a big gun in Englend, with the muzzle 
as big as the end uv a house, an' the report cud be 
heard for three ours w'en the gun was shot, an' the 
Yank sed that wus purty small fur a gun. That we 
had a gun planted on Fort Sumpter that reached from 
Maine to Texas, that it wus fired off in 1861, an' you 

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IBuiltiinff a n^eto Cmpite 

cud hear the report yit, an' that's sure a fact in old Mis- 
souri to-day, fur there you can sure hear the report yit, 
an' I'm mighty glad to git away from thar an' be a 
free man on the Western plains, an' I dun shore told 
you I never want to see anoder wah." 

In this way the Missouri parson entertained and 
amused his hearers about the camp fires of the hunting 
camp. He never would say whether he took part in 
the war or not, but he knew the conditions existing 
in the South during that mighty struggle, and the 
conditions of the "backwoods" people before the war, 
and the envy existing between factions after the war 

closed. 

The winter gradually wore away and the time 
of the homesteader was again taken up in preparing 
fuel for the coming summer, building additions to 
their little homes, and adding to their stables and out- 
buildings. The Pawnees had passed through to the 
west on a hunting expedition, expecting to secure 
meat, robes and furs, but as usual the Sioux had 
scouts out, and the Pawnees were soon located in their 
camp on the Republican in a deep caiion, about ten 
miles west of Culbertson, as it now stands. The 
Sioux organized their forces, and many of their war- 
riors appeared on the prairie to the northeast of the 
Pawnee camp, laying on their ponies covered with 
buffalo skins, which the Pawnees took, from the dis- 
tance, to be buffalo, the deception proving so complete 
that the Pawnee hunters ventured out for the coveted 
game, and when near the robes were thrown off, and 
the Sioux warriors attacked the Pawnees from all 
sides, killing and wounding half their number in much 
less time than it takes to write the story, thirty-seven 
years after the battle occurred. The supposed buffalo 
were Sioux warriors, disguised as buffalo, and from 



CtSuilDing a Ji3eto Cmpire 

the distance the disguise was complete. In this man- 
ner the Pawnee hunters were drawn far away from 
the protection of their camp and slaughtered, while 
the camp was left practically helpless in the hands of 
the old men, women and children. 

While the slaughter was going on to the northeast 
of camp between the Sioux warriors and the Pawnee 
hunters, another band of Sioux held in reserve for 
the purpose, swept down on the Pawnee camp in 
the canon killing old men, women and children without 
reserve and showing no mercy to any occupying the 
Pawnee camp, but slaughtering helpless women and 
infants, they sharing the same fate as the warriors, 
and each in turn was scalped according to the old 
custom of Indian warfare. 

Those escaping the Sioux scattered in various di- 
rections, but eventually moving east to the reserva- 
tions, leaving the dead and badly wounded on the 
battlefield together with their camp equipment, hides, 
blankets, arms and many articles of value to be 
carried away by the Sioux, the homesteaders, or the 
relic hunter, and the dead left to exposed rays of the 
August sun, who were afterwards buried by a detach- 
ment of soldiers sent out from Fort McPherson. The 
Sioux accomplished their deadly work with bows and 
arrows in order to guard against the noise of fire- 
arms which might attract the attention of United 
States soldiers, or other Pawnees that might be in 
the vicinity. 

This slaughter occurred on the fourth day of Au- 
gust, 1873, and the place has ever since been known 
as Massacre Caiion. Surprised in the attack, not 
knowing the Sioux were so near, but they fought des- 
perately with the odds against them until overpowered 
and one-third of their number killed, they were com- 

152 



'BuilDing a H^eto empire 

pelled to retreat, the Sioux following them up on 
their retreat, killing both men and women alike. 
Nearly two hundred Pawnees were killed in this battle, 
and their bodies left on the dismal prairies, and about 
thirty of the Sioux were also killed, and many 
wounded on both sides. The Sioux carried away their 
dead and wounded, but the Pawnees were compelled 
to leave their dead on the battleground, but succeeded 
in removing most of their wounded. 

The Sioux made a "hasty getav/ay" in fear of the 
soldiers, and the Pawnees moved on toward their 
reservation, leaving their dead and their equipment, 
such as blankets, guns, ammunition and trinkets on 
the battleground. Settlers went to the battleground 
and carried away Indian equipment by the wagon 
load, and no doubt some of the relics of that battle 
are yet in the vicinity of the battleground owned by 
those who carried them away, or by their descendants. 
Those of the Pawnees who were not killed in this, 
their last battle with the Sioux, returned broken- 
hearted to their reservation in eastern Nebraska, and 
this was the last expedition ever undertaken by the 
Pawnees to the buffalo range. 

The first intimation Tan had of the return of the 
Pawnees from their hunting trip, was one bright 
morning when the inmates of the little log cabin were 
at breakfast, two big burly Indians, well armed, and 
dressed in the Indian blanket costume, looked in at 
the uncurtained window, which was the custom of all 
uncivilized Indians in making their presence known. 
The settlers did not know there was any Indians with- 
in a hundred miles of this settlement, and the reader 
may judge their surprise in seeing these two husky 
braves looking in at the window, and who or what they 
were for a short time was the mystery. Both hostile and 

^S3 



reservation Indians were dressed alike, and who were 
these ? If they were a band of Sioux it meant trouble, 
and they were prepared to kill the settlers, burn their 
homes and drive off their stock, and was this a plan 
to see how well we were prepared to defend our- 
selves, or was it a plan laid to gain admission t-o 
the house? 

If they were Pawnees or Omahas they would beg 
and pilfer, but if they proved to be Sioux it meant 
murder, and it was a critical condition. The chance 
was great, but we must know the truth, and that 
quickly. If they proved to be Sioux, Tan decided in 
a flash to defend the little home at all hazards. 
The decision was quick and decisive. He deliberately 
took down from the wall his trusty Sharps rifle, and, 
at present arms, as the two bucks came toward the 
door he demanded: "From what tribe?" With their 
hands ud by this time, one who could talk a little Eng- 
lish said: "Me Pawnee." 

Tan doubted the assertion and said in reply : "You 
Sioux," and the Indian spokesman saw his word was 
doubted and that he or both of them might be shot on 
the spot, replied quickly : "Me Pawnee ; me heap good 
Injin ; Sioux heap fight Pawnee, Sioux kill 'em Paw- 
nee lots, Pawnee get 'em no buffalo, Pawnee go 'em 
home, heap many Sioux, lick 'em Pawnee, kill 'em heap 
Pawnee." 

Tan asked how many, and the Pawnee pointed to 
the two, and being asked where the band was, he 
motioned that they had gone down on the other side 
of the Beaver, and by this time being convinced that 
they were really Pawnees and that it was not a mere 
ruse to get in the house for the purpose of murder 
and plunder, and after closing the door and looking 
round to see if there was no others in sight, Tan in- 

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'Building a i^eto empire 

vited them in the house, and after the little family 
had finished their morning's meal, the Indians made it 
known that they were hungry by saying: "Pawnee 
heap hungry." Of course we knew they were hungry, 
for they are seldom seen in any other condition. A 
rough meal was prepared for them hurriedly, and 
enough of it to feed seven or eight ordinary men, but 
when these two hungry Indians had finished there was 
not enough breakfast left to feed a chicken, but the 
two hungry sons of the plains seemed to be satisfied, 
and the spokesman's excuse for eating so much was: 
"Pawnee heap hungry; Pawnee heap hog," and the 
family thought he had told the truth, for they had 
eaten three large loaves of bread, nine pounds of 
meat and everything else in sight, and had drunk 
more than a gallon of coffee, but Tan said it done his 
soul good to see them hungry Indians eat, and after 
they had finished their breakfast they passed on to 
join the band on their pilgrimage to the reservation 
in eastern Nebraska. 

After this fight between the Sioux and the Paw- 
nees, the Sioux were in an ugly mood, and were 
determined to follow the Pawnees to the reservation 
and exterminate the whole tribe, but a battalion of 
United States cavalry had appeared on the scene 
under command of Captain Bradley, with "Jack Stil- 
well" as chief scout, who was sent out to hold a con- 
ference with "Man Afraid of His Horse," the chief 
who seemed to be in command of the hostile Sioux at 
the battle, who, during the conference, promised to 
turn his hostile band back to the buffalo range, which 
he did, but had it not been for the presence of the 
cavalry and the nerve of Jack Stilwell more trouble 
would have followed, which, no doubt, would have 
involved the Western homesteaders. 

[155 



'Bufltiing a i^elo OBmpire 

As the spring advanced and the time for plowing 
and planting was approaching, rumors from the out- 
side world began to come in with reports of raids by 
the Indians of the most fiendish nature, and every 
wild rumor was taken up by the Eastern press, as 
sensational news, and they published stories of murder 
and the most fiendish outrages that could be conceived 
by the human mind of deeds perpetrated by the dem- 
ons of the Western plains, when in fact there was but 
little truth or foundation to the reports that caused 
the publication of these fiendish crimes that did not 
exist and never occurred. 

It is true that these Sioux Indians had massacred 
trains of emigrants in their 'dttempt to cross the 
plains, and had killed and outraged thousands of 
people at different times and in different ways, but 
at this time Red Cloud, as head chief of all the Sioux 
tribes, had seen the folly of his hostility to the whites, 
and had desisted from further hostilities in that direc- 
tion since 1869, but some of his under chiefs and 
many of his warriors were still hostile, and were doing 
a sort of guerrilla warfare against the whites. Such 
under chiefs as "Crazy Horse." "Sitting Bull," "Man 
Afraid of His Horse," "Spotted Tail," "Standing Elk," 
and "Big Ribs," and some of the smaller or less impor- 
tant chiefs with their following would steal out and 
make raids on settlements, wagon trains, and even 
squads of soldiers, but the under chiefs, and not 
Red Cloud, were responsible for the raids made on 
the whites after 1869, when Red Cloud and his fol- 
lowing were placed on a reservation known for years 
as Red Cloud Agency, w^hich was afterwards moved 
to Fort Robinson nearby the old agency on White 
River. 

From this place were the raids made by the under 

156 



IBujIDing a j8eto OBmpite 

chiefs as far south as the Solomon in Kansas, and east 
as far as Fairbury in Nebraska, and out in Colorado 
and Wyoming and Dakota it was not an uncommon 
occurrence to encounter a band of Sioux Indians out 
for buffalo meat and plunder. There was something 
peculiar about these chiefs in their raids and their 
capture of prisoners. While they were not Free 
Masons in a sense, as viewed by the civilized nations 
of the earth, yet they knew something of the order, 
or had an order of their own similar to ancient craft 
Masonry, and a chief would not allow a Mason to be 
killed or burned at the stake if the prisoner made him- 
self known as such. It may be Masonry or it may 
be something else of a similar nature. They do not 
know how or where it originated. Like all other 
Indians they know nothing of history or tradition. 
They simply know what they see, what they hear, and 
what they possess, but have no knowledge of history, 
or their ancestors. However, they regard this order 
with favor, but none except the chiefs and medicine 
men are admitted as members of their fraternity. 
Old Red Cloud admitted being a Mason as he termed 
it, and said he received his Masonry under a big rock. 
The regular Sioux and Cheyennes were bad enough, 
and if not held in restraint, nothing was too bad or 
too mean for them to attempt on the white people 
in revenge for crowding them back from their familiar 
hunting grounds, but their many defeats in battle 
with the Government troops, and being constantly 
watched by the soldiers kept them in restraint, and 
their acts were not as bad as was sometimes pictured 
in the Eastern press, whose sole purpose seemed to 
be to keep the emigration from opening up a new 
empire on the Western plains. It is also true that if 
"Crazy Horse" or other of the Sioux chiefs had not 

157 



been held back by the fear of being cut to pieces by the 
soldiers, and the white citizens, and the experience of 
defeat on so many former occasions, it would not have 
been possible for civilization to make the inroads 
on the Indians' hunting ground as had been done 
in the past few years. 

It was generally conceded that rich leads of gold 
were deposited in the Black Hills and the white man 
was making strenuous efforts to reach this coveted 
spot and wrest this territory from the Indian, who 
had occupied it for ages without molestation, and a 
few venturesome whites did succeed in gaining ad- 
mission to the Hills, some of whom were killed by 
the Indians, and others were removed by the United 
State soldiers, with little of the wealth hidden in 
those mountains; and not until the autumn of 1875 
did the Government secure title from the Indians 
to this valuable territory. And in the early spring 
of 1876 emigration poured into this newly acquired 
territory by the thousands from all over the world, 
and in a few months what had for ages been 
the hunting grounds of the Indians, where no white 
man dared to enter, were built cities of importance, 
and was made the habitations of people from all points 
of the compass, and what was the happy hunting 
ground of the hostile Sioux in a few months became 
civilized, and evidence of the white man's thrift and 
industry were visible on every hand. Cities were 
built, and the miner's cabin could be found through- 
out the hills, and what for ages had been viewed from 
a distance as the Indians' hunting ground had in a 
few months been made an important part of a new 
empire. 

The settlers had been hearing reports of Indian 
depredations ever since the country had begun to see 

[11^ 



15uil0ing a jfi^eto OBmpire 

the settlers coming in, and none of the dreadful re- 
ports had been verified by an actual massacre, and 
such reports had been heard so often, and as often 
proved to be untrue, that the homesteaders were tired 
of them and noticed a reported massacre no more 
than any other flying report of an ordinary character. 

The stork was hovering over the homes of many 
settlers in the new West, and the arrival of a new 
addition to one of the little families in this new 
country was becoming quite common, and were not 
considered as matters of so great importance as 
when the first and second children were born in the 
unorganized territory soon to be known an Furnas 
County. 

Farmers were beginning to plow and plant, and 
many now had ground so, wheat, oats and barley could 
be sown, and many traveled to Lowell, a distance of 
eighty miles or more, for seed to plant and sow, and 
the first attempt was now made to sow the smaller 
grains, and corn, vines, and vegetables had been 
grown successfully the year before, and a united effort 
was now being made to grow other grains and test 
the fertility of the soil and climatic conditions for 
other crops. 

The spring rains began to fall on the twenty-ninth 
day of April, the exact date of the two previous 
seasons, which was followed by the bright, warm 
spring sunshine, and vegetation started with vigor, 
and the small fields were soon looking green and 
thrifty, with the vast extent of prairie showing a 
carpet of green vegetation, beautiful to behold, and 
everything had the appearance of the opening of a 
prosperous season. The mail was now being carried 
in an open spring wagon, which was an improrement 



IBuilDing a Jl5eto dBmpire 

on the horseback way adopted at the opening of the 
route by the Government. 

The newly elected county officers in the new coun- 
ties were holding the reins of government, and while 
many of these officers were well qualified to fill the 
positions to which they had been elected, others were 
totally unfit for any place of trust and emoluments, 
some ignorant of the law or their duties, and others 
having no conception of morality, integrity, or the 
oath they had taken to perform the duties of the 
office to which they had been elected. One county 
judge had been elected who affixed his official jurat 
after signing his name as County Jug, and who 
placed the name of attorneys employed in civil or 
criminal cases where ought to have been written the 
names of the plaintiff and the defendant, and in one 
criminal case the name of an attorney went in place 
of The State of Nebraska, and the opposing attorney's 
name went in place of John Doe, the defendant. The 
same county judge said, with a slight impediment in 
his speech, which brought out a "ker" at the end of 
many words : "That the law required that every first 
mundiker in each monthiker be a term day, but he 
would have a term day the first mundiker of every 
weekiker, there foriker there would be a court every 
first mundiker of every weekiker." 

Another judge discharged every criminal brought 
before him for trial or examination on any charge 
whatever, no matter whether for trespass, grand lar- 
ceny, or horse stealing, he was discharged. After a 
time the people became suspicious, and a little in- 
vestigation on the part of other officials and the citi- 
zens revealed the fact that a small bonus from the 
defendant would bring his discharge, no matter how 
strong the evidence of guilt. The result was that 

1 60 



'BuiUfng a Jl3etii OBmpire 

an indignation meeting was held, and a committee 
was appointed to wait on the judge and inform him 
that his presence was no longer wanted in the county, 
and the citizens had decided to give him twenty-four 
hours to leave the county or abide by the consequences. 
No time was required by the judge for reflection, but 
quickly replied : 

"That is just twelve hours' longer time than I need," 
and in less than twelve hours he and his effects were 
on the road to parts unknown, with his resignation in 
the hands of the county clerk. 

Some of the sheriffs were equally devoid of honor 
as this judge, and totally unfit for the places they 
were filling, while others were well qualified for the 
places and were doing their duties. There was one 
sheriff in a nearby county in Kansas who had been 
instrumental as a mere boy in bringing many criminals 
to justice, among whom were some noted horse 
thieves, and in his work in running down criminals 
he had made a reputation for himself, which caused 
his election as sheriff when he was only nineteen years 
old. He was considered a good man for the place 
and his age was not considered. He was doing his 
duty as an officer and was bringing many bad men 
to justice, and the capture of horse thieves was his 
delight until he met his "Waterloo." 

He and a deputy was on a long ride after some men 
who had stolen a small herd of horses, and they 
finally rode on to the men with the horses. He had 
instructed his deputy to watch his motions and when 
action was taken to shoot to kill. 

The officers rode quietly up with the men in pos- 
session of the horses and engaged them in conversa- 
tion. "Three Fingered Mike," as he was known, 
had charge of the horses, and he was known as a 

li6i 



'BuilDing a iOeUi Cmpfte 

bad man, having been a cowboy, and a hunter on the 
buffalo range. Alex Ramsey, the sheriff, engaged 
him in conversation, but Mike was suspicious and 
eyed the sheriff constantly. Finally Ramsey thought 
he saw his chance and quickly threw his revolver 
down on Mike, who was equal to the occasion and 
returned the compliment, and in a flash Ramsey 
fired which was as quickly returned. Each man sUd 
down on the opposite side of his horse and the firing 
continued until both men and both horses were dead 
in reaching distance of each other, and the deputy 
sheriff had killed Mike's partner, while the shooting 
was being done by Sheriff Ramsey, and "Three 
Fingered Mike," a noted desperado and horse thief, 
had been killed with his partner in crime, but a faith- 
ful boy sheriff had also been killed who was faithful 
to his trust and a terror to all evildoers, although but 
a boy when elected to the high office of sheriff. 

But few of the officers in these new counties were 
elected for merit, for the people were all comparative 
strangers, and the acquaintance had not been cf long 
duration and the merits of those seeking office were 
unknown. Many officers were elected in these new 
counties for their influence or assistance in locating 
county seats, and in many cases it was not a question 
of honor or qualification that candidates for office 
were selected, but the ones were taken who could pull 
the most votes to a particular place for county seat, 
this being of more importance to certain leaders, or 
promoters, who had pressed themselves forward as 
leaders, than honesty and proficiency. And while this 
was true to a great extent there was elected to office 
many men who were capable of conducting the affairs 
of the office to which they had been elected and were 

162 



'BuilDing a Ji^ett) empire 

endowed with the gift of honor perceptible in every 
official act. 

Many of the county officials in the new counties 
were hampered up with their records in small rooms 
or small buildings. Perhaps a log house, twelve by 
sixteen, was used for clerk, commissioners, judge, 
sheriff and all, and if the court house was of larger di- 
mensions, it was considered very commodious, and 
officers were frequently congratulated on their spa- 
cious offices, and how much better they were equipped 
with office room than some of the neighboring 
counties. 

Much agitation was now being heard on every 
hand of an organization in eastern Nebraska known 
as the Lincoln Land Company, supposed to be owned 
and controlled by the officials of some railroad com- 
pany, and the general supposition was that it was the 
Burlington system, but its real identity was safely 
guarded by the promoters from the scrutiny of the 
homesteader's eye. But enough was visible to con- 
vince the casual observer that something was in store 
for the Republican Valley. Lands were purchased 
and plans laid for a town to be a rival of Melrose 
that would eventually cause its ruin and build up the 
rival which, when fairly started, was named Orleans. 

Further east a rival of Blue Springs was financed 
which eventually became Wymore, and promoters of 
other town sites along the Republican Valley saw 
the situation, and one D. N. Smith, who seemed the 
promoter, and who had the matter in charge, began 
to receive offers of interests in town sites all along 
the line, and Smith, or his backers, in a few months 
became part or full owners of all the town sites in 
the Republican Valley, and the original owners were 

163 



'BuilDing a Jl3eto OBmpite 

shorn of the privilege of any benefits arising from 
the locating of these towns. 

In the bright light of the noonday sun could be 
seen, as the south winds warmed the vast prairies, 
passing to the north immense swarms of grasshoppers 
such as had been seen the two years previous, but 
the wind continued from the south and in a few 
days they had disappeared, and for a time no more 
was seen. 

The wheat, oats and barley crops grew to maturity 
and was harvested, and the result of the experiment 
proved very satisfactory in this line, but the weather 
was turning dry and the corn began to suffer for rain. 
The rain did not come, but the burning hot winds 
came sweeping over the dry buffalo grass from the 
southwest, as if coming from a furnace or an immense 
fire. Day after day the hot winds continued, and 
the corn blades rolled tightly as if scorched by fire, 
and the tassel turned as white as snow losing their 
green verdure. Homesteaders were watching, with 
bated anxiety, the result of the hot winds on the 
growing corn, some contending that the corn would 
yet mature with favorable weather conditions, while 
others contended that with the tassel dry as powder, 
and the blades rolled by the burning winds, no corn 
could be produced, and famine stood staring them in 
the face. A few pieces of corn on the low bottom 
lands where the roots were near the sheet water under 
the surface were still doing fairly well, and the corn 
planted on what was termed the sod, or the first 
breaking, had yet retained some signs of life, and 
hope for many days of hot winds was still entertained. 
The wheat and oats had been stacked, and everybody 
waited the result of the hot winds on the corn. 

But little had been raised the year before and 

164 



IBniltjitiQ a il3eto OBmpire 

the little product had all been exhausted, and the 
two years previous but few had taken land early 
enough in the season to produce a crop, so the country 
was as devoid of sustenance as though no furrow had 
been turned, or any attempt made at farming in what 
was hoped would be the making of a new farming 
country. 

The anxious waiting was in vain and useless, for 
ere many days had passed after the corn seemed with- 
ered beyond resuscitation the hot winds ceased, and 
instead a cool wind came from the north, and with 
the north wind came countless myriads of grass- 
hoppers, that actually darkened the sun as a cloud, 
and when near the ground they were so numerous that 
man or beast could scarcely pass through them, and 
at night when the wind ceased they lit down on 
growing vegetation, or if the wind chanced to change 
to the south and meet them in their flight they would 
come to the ground and would be several inches deep 
on the ground. 

Any person not seeing them could realize the num- 
bers or the destruction wrought by them in a short 
time, but wading in grasshoppers shoe top deep could 
be done any place, and when in the air they formed 
dark clouds that could not be believed without seeing 
them. Corn fields were eaten to the ground in a few 
hours, leaves stripped from the trees, and all growing 
vegetation destroyed in a very short time. Attempts, 
as the year before, was made to drive them from the 
corn fields, but they were as ineffective as a paper bag 
before a cyclone, and the attempt to drive them away 
was soon abandoned. They had never been seen as 
numerous before, and all hope of saving an)rthing 
green was soon abandoned. 

Whole fields of corn was eaten to the ground in a 

1651 



'BuilDinjj a Ji^eto OBmpire 

few hours, gardens were in like manner destroyed, 
onions were eaten out of the ground and nothing left 
but the hole in the ground to tell the tale of the growth 
of the onion, melons were eaten with the relish of a 
Mississippi darkey, screens were actually eaten from 
the windows, and one man left carelessly on an outside 
shelf a pound plug of navy tobacco which was de- 
voured seemingly with a relish. The only living vegeta- 
tion they seemed to dislike was sorghum, broom corn 
and castor beans. These three articles did not seem to 
appeal to their ravenous appetites. 

During the troubles of this siege of the grasshop- 
pers, rumors of troubles on the railroads of the two 
years before was a sore reality. The Union Pacific 
and the Kansas Pacific were the only railroads built 
and being operated at this time across the new West, 
and trains on these lines crushed millions upon millions 
of grasshoppers on the rails, and the slimy oil crushed 
from the little pests greased the tracks like pouring 
thousands of barrels of crude oil on the rails, and 
the attempt to move trains under these conditions 
were useless. The experience of the two years before 
were seemingly as bad as we wished to see, but there 
was no comparison to the condition at this time. The 
engine and car wheels would whirl on the greased 
track, but the trains refused to move. Sand was 
freely used on the tracks, but it was almost useless, 
and while these conditions lasted it was almost im- 
possible to move trains on these Western roads, al- 
though the tracks were level, and no heavy grades. 

Reports of the destruction wrought by the grass- 
hoppers was widely published in the East, and the 
entomologists began to take notice, and to study the 
pests as they never had done before. Many claimed 
we were being visited by the locusts which devastated 

[1 66 



'Building a Ji^eto OBmpite 

Egypt during the middle ages and were described 
by the old authors as the eighth plague of Egypt, 
and as these locusts were described as migratory no 
doubt but these grasshoppers were the same, or at 
least similar to the Egyptian locusts. Some of the 
scientists classed them as the Rocky Mountain grass- 
hopper, breeding on the eastern slope of the mountains, 
but with all the knowledge and advantages of the 
scientific entomologists, the homesteader of those days 
learned more of their habits and customs by actual 
observation than the scientist did from his extensive 
collection of books. The plainsmen knew they went 
north in the late spring with the wind from the south, 
and they also learned that they returned in the early 
fall with the wind from the north. They also learned 
that if conditions were favorable they would burrow 
little round holes in the ground and there deposit 
their eggs, which were hatched the following spring 
at the approach of warm weather, but up to this time 
comparatively few of the grasshoppers had deposited 
their eggs. 

The homesteader had also discovered that a little 
red parasite was found on many of the pests under 
the wing and that when one of these little parasites 
fastened itself to the grasshopper it took its life blood, 
and the grasshopper became weak and soon died, but 
there did not seem to be parasites enough for all the 
pests, but it was hoped that the parasites would in- 
crease fast enough so each grasshopper could have 
one, and the grasshopper plague would soon be settled. 
The entomologists were shown the parasites by the 
homesteader, and the scientists then advanced a theory 
that the parasites would in time destroy the grass- 
hopper. 

The homesteaders were now up to a serious propo- 

[i'67 



OBuilDing a iBeto dBmpire 

sition. Here he had been for the past two years or 
more honestly toiling and buoyed up by the hope that 
he would make a prosperous home in this new country, 
and if he failed in the attempt and gave up now he had 
lost two years of the best portion of his life, and with 
the pluck and energy of the average homesteader to 
give up was an idea not to be entertained. The buf- 
falo were getting scarce and every man in the new 
country could not support his family by hunting. 
Many had friends in the East who were abundantly 
able and willing to help them, while others could not 
call for help, but the situation was grave and some- 
thing must be done. Some were now out of funds 
and their stock of provisions were running low. 

Meetings of the citizens were called by the people, 
generally at the county seats, the purpose of which was 
to devise means of relief during the coming winter 
and seed for planting in the following spring. 

A meeting was called at Beaver City and other 
county seats, making it as far as possible a county 
affair. A president and a secretary were elected, and 
a call for remarks by those present and interested, it 
being conceded that a general call for aid would be 
started from the new West to the benevolent people 
of the East. Will Thomas, Tan Myers and others 
were called on for their views in the matter, who went 
into details on the destruction of crops by the ravages 
of the grasshoppers, quoting scientific theories and 
modes of extermination as published in the papers 
and advocated by entomologists, whose knowledge of 
"bugology" were unquestioned as to theory at least. 

Rev. Mas Yamo was an attentive listener to all that 
had been said, and being urged to express his views 
on the situation he raised his ponderous form to a 
standing position, his long iron grey hair resting on 

i68 



'BuilDing a i^eto OBmpite 

his shoulders he began by addressing the president and 
quoting Exodus 10-13 : "And Moses stretched forth 
his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought 
an east wind upon the land all that day and all that 
night; and when it was morning, the east wind 
brought the locusts." "We, as the fruntier forrunners 
uv civilization, whu hes druv the Injen frum his home 
in his wigwam tu the furdest recesses uv the wildest 
West ; us whu hev killed his buffalo by the thousands 
upon thousands, weuns who hev taken his place in 
these beautiful valleys that shud be bloomin with 
growin' grain hev bin sumwhat disappointed. My 
friends hev told uv scientific plans laid down by the 
great bugologists uv how the grasshoppers kin be 
destroyed, an' in high speakin' terms and language, 
all the theories and isms uv men with book larnin' 
which ain't doin' us no good. The grasshopper hes 
cum and hes eat nearly every livin' thing in site, an' 
de scientists tell us how to drive dem away by smokin' 
'em out, an' by drivin' 'em away by ropes, an' science 
may be all right, an' I specs it is, but science and com- 
mon sense ort tu go hand in hand. They ort 
tu jine hands an' go tugether. I don't believe thur 
is parasites enuf on airth to kill the grasshoppers we 
hev seed this summer on the Beaver; an' talk about 
eaten 'em as the Egyptians did in the gude old Bibel 
times, wy there ain't people enough in forty counties 
tu eat the grasshoppers thet Ht on my cornfield at one 
litein, an' ef dey multiply in de nex four years as dey 
has in de last two years thar won't be land enuf frum 
the muddy Missouri River to de mountains ter lite 
on, an sum uv 'em will hav ter keep flyin' all the time. 
But we are told in that gude old Babtist hymn 'to 
never be discouraged or never shed a tear' but let's try 
it agin, let's ask the gude peepel of the East tu give 

169 



IBuiMnQ a il3eto OBrnpite 

us a lift, let's ask fur corn, pork, flour, beans and any- 
thing we kin eat an' ware, an' seed fur plantin' in de 
spring. We kin sure raise sum things here, we hev 
raised sum wheat an' oats that wus cut afore the 
grasshoppers cum. Then broom corn an' sorghum dey 
don't eat, an' I reckon dey don't like 'em, an' de dry 
wether an' hot winds don't hurt dem Hke it does corn, 
an' now let me tell you suthin : I am six feet an' four 
inches high an' weigh two hundred an' forty pounds, 
an' I raised a castor bean stock this year that I kin 
climb an' de grasshoppers never teched it ; an' why 
can't we raise castor beans fur tu sell? Sumbody sure 
raises 'em fur tu sell, fur they make castor ile out on 
'em, an' der ain't a drug stor between the Beaver an' 
Pike County, Missouri, but has castor ile tu sell. We 
kin raise 'em an' de grasshoppers won't tech 'em. It 
is used for medicine and fur greasin' buggies an' 
wagons, an' whu knows but what this new country in 
a few years will be supplien de wurld with castor 
ile. I dun raised nine tuns uv melons on one acre uv 
ground an' de grasshoppers eat 'em all in one nite, 
but dey sure don't like castor ile, fur dey won't tech 
a castor bean stock. Don't know why or how it wurks 
on 'em, but dey sure don like it. Now, friends, let's 
stay on the claims an' raise castor beans, sorghum and 
brume corn. Every woman in de land wants a brum, 
and we kin raise these things the grasshoppers won't 
eat an' sell 'em an' buy corn. Our cattle an' bosses 
kin eat grass an' keep fat on it, only when there is 
snow on, an' that ain't offen, an' we kin cut all the hay 
we need to feed when the snow is on, besides we kin 
raise wheat, oats, rye an' barley, that gits ripe befo 
de grasshoppers cum. We kin go on to de mighty 
herds uv buffalo an' kill our meat fur de winter, but 

170 



'BuilDing a l^eto empire 

les ask the gude peepel uv old Missouri an' de East 
tu send us de rest." 

Other speeches were made, some claiming the 
calling for relief would stop emigration to the West if 
aid was asked, but starvation stared them in the face, 
and it was finally decided to name a county committee 
composed of three to advertise, receive and distribute 
aid for the grasshopper sufferers, to manage and con- 
trol the distribution of aid when it was received. 

Similar organizations were effected in other counties 
in both Kansas and Nebraska, and the appeal for as- 
sistance became general. Letters were sent to the gov- 
ernors of the two States, who upon investigation ap- 
pealed to other States through their governors, aid to 
be sent to the regular committee for distribution. The 
railroad companies had agreed to carry all donations 
to the sufferers free, and the matter was advertised 
broadcast throughout the land, and the grasshopper 
sufferers became a household word throughout the 
land. The railroads' proffer to carry aid free meant 
train load ; for them without pay, and these train loads 
to be hauled by teams and wagons to the new counties 
far away from the stations. 

Not only the new settlements, but the whole State 
had suffered from the grasshopper plague this year, 
and in the east portion many eggs were laid which 
meant destruction the following spring to the growing 
crops until the young grasshoppers were sufficiently 
developed to fly northward with the south wind. 

The United States Government had also been asked 
for aid, and it was learned that the Government had 
stored in their immense warehouses endless quantities 
of clothing which had been condemned for various 
reasons. Some was out of date, some moth eaten, 
some imperfect in cut or workmanship. Some one 

^171 



conceived the idea of donating this clothing to the 
grasshopper sufferers in the West. Congress took the 
matter up and a resolution went through both houses 
of Congress to this effect, and the Government ware- 
houses were emptied and dumped on the homesteaders 
of the West, Kansas and Nebraska receiving the major 
portion of it, and it was distributed by army officers 
detailed for that purpose. It was nothing uncommon 
then to see an ex-Confederate soldier wearing a suit of 
United States uniform, and a pair of easy army shoes. 

Relief began coming into the two States consisting 
of flour, meal, groceries, piece goods by the bolt, and 
wearing apparel of all conceivable kinds, both new 
and second hand. Some articles were worthless and 
not worth the hauling from the railroad, while the 
majority of the goods coming were good, some being 
new and others slightly worn, and nearly all the ar- 
ticles were suited to the wants of the people; but of 
course to this general rule there were some exceptions, 
as one box especially coming from a prominent city 
in Ohio contained two hoop skirts, three well-wcrn 
corsets, seven rubber tips for nursing bottles, one 
truss, six ladies' belts, six nightcaps, seventeen boxes 
paper collars, four soiled neckties, one baseball, one 
football, one ball bat, one kite, a lot of fish lines, tin 
cups, toy dogs, toy wagons, a boy's sled, and sundry 
other articles. 

Sub-committees were appointed in the different pre- 
cincts, and the matter of distribution went merrily 
on. There were some receiving aid regularly who did 
not need it, while others were too sensitive to make 
their wants known, and for this reason many children 
went cold and hungry that winter whose parents 
were too proud or too sensitive to tell their true condi- 
tion, while others were taking everything obtainable, 

172 



and some of them had abundance of their own and 
did not need donations from any source. 

It was a great donation made by the people of the 
East and the Middle West, and was a blessing to the, 
people of the new West whose condition was no fault 
of their own. While many received assistance who 
could have gotten along without it, in a general way it 
was well handled. In their desire to make indepen- 
dent and prosperous homes of their own, the condi- 
tions had placed them in a helpless situation where 
the fault was not theirs unless the desire to be inde- 
pendent and make homes of their own was the fault 
at issue. 

There were a few instances where frauds were 
worked on the good people during this time of trouble 
for the settlers, by men going East with forged cre- 
dentials or letters, claiming to be soliciting for cer- 
tain localities, and succeeded in getting many contri- 
butions which were used to satisfy their own personal 
greed. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Grasshoppers Destroyed — More Trouble for the 

Homesteaders. 

Spring opened up with an abundance of rain, and 
climatic conditions were favorable for another at- 
tempt at farming. Seed wheat, oats, barley and 
corn had been provided through the relief agencies, 
and a supply of grain for feeding the teams while 
putting in the crops. Also a supply of garden seeds 
and potatoes were furnished, and some had secured 
rye and planted it the fall previous, so everything 
was favorable for a new start, which was pushed 

173 



'BuilDing a JBetti Cmpite 

with vigor throughout the country that had met such 
a disaster the previous season. Crops were planted 
and grew vigorously, and a fair crop of everything in 
the earlier varieties were harvested in the west, while 
in the eastern portions of the two States and along 
the Missouri River the eggs laid by the grasshop' 
pers the season before had hatched and all early vege- 
tation was destroyed, together with fruit and foliage 
on the trees, and this destruction continued until the 
pests grew large enough to fly, and a few days of 
wind from the south took them to the uninhabited 
section of northern Dakota and the British possessions. 

All crops in the new West were matured, except 
corn, before the return of the grasshoppers in the 
early fall, and a good portion of this was saved from 
destruction, owing to the fact that the grasshoppers 
came later in the season than usual, but the "rascals" 
laid their eggs, and what was to be done the follow- 
ing season? Scientists had told the people of the 
West how to destroy the pests, but their theories 
when tested were unsuccessful, and once more science 
and commonsense were not going hand in hand on the 
great question now agitating the whole American 
people. 

The winter again gradually wore away and at 
the approach of spring with its warm weather grass- 
hoppers began to hatch, and as the warm weather ad- 
vanced the young grasshoppers increased and cov- 
ered the ground with these little black hoppers, black 
being the color of the migratory grasshoppers when 
first hatched. Scientists told the homesteader to 
plow ditches around his fields to prevent the hoppers 
from going to the cultivated land, and when the 
ditches became full of hoppers to put straw on them 
and burn it with the pests. This was done and as 

.174 



IBuilDing a Jl3eto OBmpire 

soon as the fire burned out the ditches were filled 
again and climbing the banks of the ditch on the 
opposite side to the cultivated fields. Everything in a 
few days would be destroyed with no hope for the 
future prosperity of the homesteaders. 

Many were discouraged and gave up hope of making 
a home so far West, and some moved away, abandon- 
ing their claims and improvements. Some went to the 
Black Hills to seek employment and left their fami- 
lies to hold the claims, although it did not require 
much effort to guard against claim jumpers, for the 
grasshoppers had complete possession. Some gave 
up entirely and went to the Pacific coast, leaving the 
results of their labor to anyone who cared to take it. 
But the thought of leaving the claim and giving up the 
last few years of hard labor in an effort to make a 
home, to abandon this labor and the loss of time while 
in the prime of life was a proposition that stared them 
in the face. It has always been said that "the darkest 
hour was just before dawn," and on Tuesday, April 
24th, 1875, "the silver lining to the dark cloud" 
hanging over the entire new West began to appear. 

On this date, near the hour of noon, rain began 
falling, which continued two days, and on the third 
day the weather began to turn colder, and soon the 
rain began to turn to snow, which for a time melted 
as fast as it fell to the ground, but as the day ad- 
vanced and the cold increased the snow ceased to 
melt, but instead froze as it came down, and at sun- 
set snow and ice covered the ground from the Mis- 
souri River to the mountains and from the British 
possessions to Texas. The night was extremely cold 
for being so late in the season. It was clear and 
cold during the night, and when the snow and ice 
had melted away on the following day not a live 

1.751 



15uilDing a i^elo OBmpite 

locust could be seen. The destruction of the migra- 
tory grasshoppers was complete, and this ended the 
grasshopper plague which threatened to drive every 
homesteader from the new empire. 

The bacteriological commission appointed by the 
wisdom of Congress made a thorough and inex- 
haustible report about a year after the destruction 
of the grasshoppers by an act of kind providence. 
The report of this very important commission was 
not made until the appropriation made by Congress 
for their salaries and expenses had been exhausted 
or wasted, for any homesteader could have furnished 
Congress all the information obtained by this com- 
mission by the asking. The report was voluminous 
along scientific lines and may be of great value to 
coming generations in future ages as one of the his- 
torical events of the nineteenth cewtury. The home- 
steaders were now happy and many who had aban- 
doned their claims returned, and went to work with 
a will and determination only known to the West. 

Horse thieves had for the past two years been 
somewhat troublesome to the settlers, not only here 
but all over the new West, and while some of the 
sheriffs were willing to run down the thieves, yet 
definite action was difficult, for no organization was 
known and it took time to locate the direction horses 
were taken when stolen, and the regular route located 
was over the cattle trail. It was gradually learned 
that horses stolen on the Platte, or to the northwest, 
and were started south, were headed for Texas over 
the cattle trail, and those stolen in Kansas, if started 
northwest, were headed for North Platte, and later 
to the Black Hills, but of course it took time to learn 
these facts. There was no telegraph lines except 
alons: the Union Pacific and the Kansas Pacific rail- 



'fc> 



176 



aButltiing a n^eto dBmpite 

roads, and a telephone was not thought of in those 
days, which made tracing criminals more difficult than 
in later years. It was generally believed there was 
a harbor or rendezvous on the Prairie Dog for secret- 
ing stolen horses, but no organized effort was ever 
made to raid the place or to arrest the proprietor, 
who was well known in the West at the time. 

Horses were being stolen and this fact was becom- 
ing too well known to suit the homesteaders, and to 
capture the thief with stolen horses was an immense 
undertaking. The thief was as well armed as the 
officers and usually had from twenty to twenty-four 
hours the start of the officers, but many long and 
daring rides were made in the attempt to run down 
horse thieves, and sheriffs were known to ride day and 
night in an attempt to capture a team or horse stolen 
from a homesteader, when his chance of being killed 
was greater than the chance of capturing the thief. 

One deputy sheriff from near North Platte fol- 
lowed two men who had stolen two large mules near 
that place, on horseback to a Mennonite settlement, 
twenty-five miles east of Russell, Kansas, where the 
thieves were negotiating a sale of the mules when 
they were captured. The deputy and his posse had 
ridden two hundred and seventy-five miles on horse- 
back to catch these men with the stolen mules, and 
the return trip must be made in the same manner 
with two prisoners to guard the entire trip. 

These mule thieves believed they were in the State 
of Kansas, and the crime of stealing the mules had 
been committed in Nebraska, but the plucky officers 
had no tim.e to wait for requisitions from one governor 
to the other and wisely pretended to know nothing 
of the State lines. They knew the mules had been 
stolen, and they had caught the men "with the goods." 

177 



'BuilDing a jfi3eto empire 

They had no time to consult attorneys, or to allow 
their prisoners to see an attorney, although they pro- 
tested against being taken from one State to another 
without the proper authority; but this would cause 
a delay of two weeks and the officers refused to listen 
to their protest, and after a little rest and recreation 
the return trip to North Platte was started with both 
prisoners across the country. 

The prisoners were handcuffed and their feet tied 
under the mules. There was no settlement on the 
route except on the streams, but the return trip 
was made safely, and the prisoners were landed in 
the old log jail, which was a landmark of the early 
days at North Platte for many years. District court 
was in session at the time of their return, and on the 
following day both prisoners were indicted, tried, con- 
victed and sentenced to the penitentiary, each for five 
years, and on the following day were landed in prison. 
This was the closing scene of one of the longest 
successful horseback rides for mule or horse thieves 
ever written in the criminal history of any State. 

In the fifties an organized band of thieves known 
as the "Banditti of the Prairies," extending from Ken- 
tucky to Minnesota, across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and 
lower Wisconsin, but no record was ever made in run- 
ning down members of this organized band to equal 
this ride by two lone horsemen for the capture of these 
two mule thieves belonging to no organized band. 

Another case is known where two men had stolen 
thirteen horses in Philips County, Kansas, and the 
number proved to be the unlucky thirteen. Enough 
was learned to convince the owners that the horses 
had started to the northwest. Citizens without an 
officer started in pursuit, but a sheriff of western 
Nebraska was called into consultation, and with the 

1178 



to 






^ 
t 






O 
ci 

O 

n 



> 




party started in search of the trail which had been lost. 
The trail was found after a day's search, and followed 
well up the Frenchman, where "Texas Jack" and 
Bill Dile were enlisted in the chase. Bill was the 
owner of a lot of horses and cattle that he was 
keeping on the range, and "Texas Jack" was a plains- 
man and cowboy, with several scalps hanging to his 
belt. 

The information had been gained that two men 
had stolen the horses and the same two men were 
driving the horses out of the country. They were 
finally located in a cafion, and a part of the horses 
were captured, but a desperate chase followed across 
the level prairies, and the pursuers seemed to have 
the best horses, and after miles of running they were 
gaining on the horse thieves, and coming nearer and 
nearer all the time, the pursuers were ordered to 
halt. But of course this order was disregarded, 
but the thieves were ordered to surrender, which com- 
mand was answered with lead from Winchester rifles, 
and one of the fiercest battles ever fought on the 
Western plains was now inevitable. The men with 
the stolen horses were desperate characters, and 
would "die with their boots on" rather than surrender 
or be captured alive. The pursuers under the leader- 
ship of a Western sheriff, with the laws of the State 
in his favor. Some of his party were very poorly 
armed, but himself and his two new recruits were 
as well armed as the thieves themselves and had 
plenty of ammunition. The sheriff dismounted and 
ordered his helpers to do the same, and then ordered 
two of his men to take all the horses out of range 
of the rifles, and ordered all his men who had long 
range guns to stoop low, keep cool, and shoot to kill. 

Bullets went and come thick and fast, and each vol- 

179 



ley seemed to come closer. "Texas Jack" was the 
first man in the sheriff's party struck. A 44 Win- 
chester ball had passed fehrough the muscles of the 
thigh, but Jack never whimpered or complained. The 
sheriff again gave the order to shoot low, keep cool, 
and shoot to kill. A hole had been shot through the 
sheriff's hat, and Tom Straw, one of the party, had 
been shot through the foot. It was now seen that 
one man at the other end of the range had either fallen 
or laid down and his gun was silent, but the other 
was still pumping his Winchester, but he, too, soon 
dropped his gun and threw up his hands, and he was 
ordered forward. He came to the pursuing party, 
leaving his gun, and when near enough was relieved 
of his side arms, which was a pair of big navy 44 
revolvers. Being asked about his partner, said he 
was shot through the .heart or lungs and was past 
speaking, and thought he was dead ; and as to himself 
he was shot through the lungs, and he thought it use- 
less to continue the fight any longer, as the game 
would soon be over with him as it was now with his 
partner. 

The balance of the stolen horses had stampeded, 
and by this time were somewhat scattered, but some 
of the pursuing party soon rounded them up and 
others went to the leader who had planned and 
executed with his partner the stealing of the thirteen 
horses and they found he had breathed his last. This 
made one horse thief less in the West, and the cap- 
ture of all the stolen animals, and a wounded horse 
thief on their hands, all of which made the chase a 
successful one. 

The man captured alive seemed to be badly 
wounded, but did not complain. The dead man was 
tied on his saddle and in this manner carried to the 

180 



'Building: a Beto empire 

Dile ranch, where he was rolled in his blankets and 
buried in a grave six feet due east and west, without 
the sound of song, sermon or prayer, and his body left 
in its solitary abode to be devoured by the creeping 
insects of the earth. 

After a rest of thirty-six hours for men and horses, 
the party passed on, anxious to reach a settlement 
with their wounded prisoner. The wounded of the 
pursuing party were not seriously injured, and with 
treatment available at the ranch seemed to be doing 
well and would soon be healed over, but the prisoner's 
wound was serious, and needed medical attention. 
It was now very sore and it was with difficulty that 
he was able to ride to the nearest town for treatment. 
It was a long day's ride, and on arrival a physician 
was secured as soon as possible, but here the prisoner 
got but little consolation. The Doctor said the case 
was hopeless. The wound was fatal, and now 
gangrene had already developed, and but little hope 
of his recovery could be entertained. 

The night passed off by giving the prisoner the best 
care and medical treatment to be had at the little 
town of C, but the inflammation increased and it was 
decided he could not possibly recover, and at best 
could not survive but a very few days. The sheriff, 
coroner, county clerk and county judge were called 
in, to whom the prisoner made a statement of the 
facts in the case exonerating the sheriff and his as- 
sistants for the killing of his partner, and his own 
fatal wound. In two more days another horse thief 
had paid the penalty of his wrongdoings and was 
wrapped in his blankets and buried on the banks of 
the Republican. 

It was afterwards learned that the parents of these 
desperadoes were respected and honored citizens of 

i8i 



one of the new counties in western Kansas, The 
degradation to which these young men had fallen 
and their tragical end, weighed down their parents 
with grief, and sorrow stricken, caused them to fill 
untimely graves. 

Another man had come down over the cattle trail 
from the north riding a "cow pony" and leading a 
fine bay mare that seemed to incite suspicion. He 
stopped at Tan Myers in the evening just before sun- 
down for some provisions, and after being supplied 
started south over the trail, and but little was thought 
of the event except that the indication, or at least 
the suspicions, were that the bay mare might be 
stolen. 

That night a terrible rain storm came up, which 
put all the streams out of their banks and made cross- 
ing them impossible. Next morning Sheriff James, 
with a deputy from Plum Creek, appeared on the 
scene looking for the man with the bay mare and 
the brown pony, stating the mare had been stolen, 
and called on Tan for information. 

"Yes," said Tan, "that man with those horses 
started for the Sappa last night after sundown, and 
as he was a stranger in a strange land to him, he 
could not have possibly crossed the Sappa before the 
storm, and now the stream cannot be crossed. The 
only bridge on the Sappa was carried away by the 
flood last night, and your man is still on this side, 
and not more than seven miles away at the furthest. 
Follow the cattle trail and he will be your prisoner 
in an hour's time." 

Tan was urged to accompany the sheriff and his 
deputy, which he did. Sheriff James was a man 
of unusual proportions, being six feet and five inches 
in height, and weighed two hundred and forty pounds, 

182 



to 

8 



^ 



t»l 



0^1 



1-^ 

w 
o 

K 
CO 
H 

d 

W 




'25uiIDing a il3eUi (Bmpitc 

feared nothing, and was a terror to all evildoers. 

The three men well armed mounted their saddle 
horses and were oflf, and after riding about three 
miles over the trail, Tan saw half a mile away, a 
lone horse, which was evidently fastened to a rope 
on the prairie. The object was pointed out and a 
dash made for the horse. The man lay nearby asleep 
and the other horse was found in a ravine. The horse- 
men dashed up, guns in hand, and when near the 
man the command was given: "Hands up," and the 
man so suddenly aroused from his slumbers, hardly 
waiting to open his eyes, responded quickly. "Up — 
up — there, up," and another horse thief was caught 
red handed with the horse in his possession. 

He was handcufifed with his feet tied under the 
horse in the usual way, and started back to Dawson 
County, where he was tried and convicted, and the 
presiding judge gave him also the usual term of five 
years in the penitentiary, the same fate that had be- 
fallen the men who stole the mules. In this manner 
the war of extermination was kept up, and the luxury 
of horse stealing was soon considered too hazardous 
for safety, and the profession was practically aban- 
doned. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Revival and the Penitentiary. 

As Samantha said, "resumin backwards." During 
the winter the homesteaders were drawing aid with 
but little to do but watch the relief come in and draw 
their portion. Reverend Yamo came in from a buffalo 
hunt and proposed to preach a sermon, and, if thought 
advisable, to hold a protracted "meetin' " if the citizens 



'ISuilDing a JOeto (Empire 

should approve the plan. Reverend Hobson had ex- 
pressed his willingness to assist in the good work, 
so the word was given out that evening service would 
be held in the school house, and a general invitation 
was given out for all to come and assist in the good 
work. Revivals had been held in the older settled 
countries for ages, and why not here ? 

The time arrived and people came in from all di- 
rections and services were opened by singing that 
good, old familiar hymn: "On Jordan's stormy banks 
I stand and cast a wishful eye," after which a fervent 
prayer was offered, and then was sung another old 
revival hymn: "A charge to keep I have." After 
which the venerable minister from Missouri, and the 
professional hunter, delivered a sermon that might 
have been well received in any place forty or fifty 
years before this time, dealing, as it did, with eternal 
and everlasting torment to the wicked, the skeptic 
and the "onbeliever," while those who believed and 
were "babtized" for the remission of their sins would 
inherit eternal life in the land of the blessed. 

After the sermon the congregation joined in sing- 
ing : "I'm glad salvation's free," after which a general 
love feast was indulged in by different ones relating 
their experience in their feeble efforts to lead the 
life of a Christian, and the sentiments seemed to 
be warming up their sluggish temperaments, and the 
interest manifested caused the leaders to announce 
another meeting for the following night. The con- 
gregation was dismissed by singing the doxology, 
and a band of young ladies departed, singing: "Oh, 
for a man — , Oh, for a man — , Oh, for a mansion 
in the skies," and the refrain was taken up by the 
young men singing : "Oh, take a pill — , Oh, take a 
pill — , Oh, take a pilgrim home with you," and in 

184 




ft 

2 



^ 



05 



the visions of many of the listeners that night could 
be heard in the distance the echoes of "Oh, for a 
mansion in the skies, and take a pilgrim home with 
you." 

The meeting continued for several nights, and the 
interest increased until a goodly number who had 
become lukewarm in their devotional duties were 
revived to action, and new converts to their religious 
duties were coming forward every night, and as long 
as these accessions came the meetings continued, and 
much good was accomplished. The old familiar 
hymns were sung and resung, and the Parson from 
Missouri, with the assistance of Dr. Hobson, had 
stirred up a religious awakening long to be felt in 
the new settlement. 

Other ministers followed in after years and efforts 
were continually being made to build up churches of 
the different creeds or denominations, but Yamo ex- 
horted his hearers to follow the Christ as an example 
of the true Christian. "Don't look upon me as an ex- 
ample of living Christianity, and don't do as I do, 
but do as I tell you if you want to be saved." He 
seemed to realize that his uncouth ways and rough- 
hewn character molded in the backwoods of Missouri 
was not a proper example of everyday Christian life, 
but his admonition always was to look upon Christ 
as the model Christian, and "do as I speak and not 
as I do." 

Such was the nature of the first religious awakening 
in the new country. While the inhabitants were not 
all Christians, with but few exceptions they were 
moral, law-abiding citizens. The building of churches 
had not as yet been seriously considered, but feeble 
efforts had been made to organize classes representing 

185 



IBuflUfttg a Jl3eto empire 

the different denominations, but the efforts were feeble 
and had not as yet been a marked success. 

When the crops had been destroyed in the early 
fall by the grasshoppers Tan had stacked his wheat 
and oats, which was small and not sufficient to feed 
his little family and his live stock through the winter, 
and the idea of drawing aid and living on public 
charity was not to be considered. He was young, 
stout, able-bodied, and willing to work if work could 
be had, but the crops had been destroyed in the entire 
States of Kansas and Nebraska, and hundreds of 
homesteaders from both States were headed east look- 
ing for employment of any kind that would help 
them through the coming winter. Any kind of work 
at any kind of wages was being sought by the home- 
steaders on the road headed to the East. A comfortable 
home in Iowa was awaiting Tan's wife and boy baby 
for the winter if she would come, and Tan himself 
was urged to prove up on his claim and leave it, 
and to regain the position he had left more than 
two years before, but this did not suit his ideas, and 
while he was willing to part with the wife and baby 
for the winter, he must seek employment for himself. 

Many wagons were on the road East. Some looking 
on the bright side of the event had labeled their wagon 
covers with mottos such as: "In God we trusted; in 
Nebraska we busted" ; "Going back to my wife's 
people," "The pilgrim's return," and like mottoes 
were seen traveling East every day. Tan decided 
that if work could be had he would go East, and if 
not, he would go further west and camp on the buffalo 
range for the winter and slaughter the buffalo for 
their hides. 

An influential citizen of Lincoln, whom he had 
known in Iowa, was written to seeking employment, 

.186 



'BuilDing a Jl3eto OBmpite 

and an answer soon came stating that he could have a 
position as guard at the penitentiary, and the first 
vacancy would be held for him. The wife and baby 
were bundled up and started to the parental roof 
in Iowa, while Tan put matters in shape for the win- 
ter, leaving everything but the team in his brother's 
care, packed his trunk and started for Lincoln, with 
a view of entering the penitentiary (on a salary). 

A senatorial convention was to be held at Hastings 
for the purpose of placing in nomination a candidate 
for State senator to represent a district extending 
from Johnson County on the east to the Colorado 
line on the west, a distance of two hundred and eighty- 
eight miles, and north to the Platte River, leaving out 
Lancaster, Seward and Hamilton counties, and it was 
decided at a county convention that Tan Myers and 
Captain J. H. McKee should represent the county 
at this convention, which they did on their journey 
to Lincoln. Delegates and political strikers were 
there from all over the district, and all who came in 
by rail were supplied with free transportation. There 
were two candidates, and the contest was fierce and 
extremely interesting. One candidate was Judge 
Morris, of Crete, whose choice for a United States 
senator to be elected at the coming session of the 
legislature was General John M. Thayer, who was 
the candidate of the Burlington system, who were 
laying their plans to control the convention, and to 
extend their control to the political situation in the 
whole South Platte country, as the Union Pacific 
system was doing in the portion of the State lying 
north of the Platte River. Backed also by the Bur- 
lington system was the Lincoln Land Company, who 
were seeking to control every town site in the Re- 
publican River valley. 

187 



'BuilDing a il3eto OBmpire 

This was plainly evident, as all those from the Re- 
publican Valley, whether delegates or not, but who 
were identified with the D. N. Smith interests in 
town sites, were all to a man positively in favor of 
Judge Morris for State senator. 

Tan and the Captain were interviewed, talked to, 
and admonished to vote for Morris, while they were 
also interviewed by the opposing element. Judge Mor- 
ris was an able man and no doubt conscientious in his 
convictions, but these two delegates looked on with 
suspicion. 

D. N. Smith in his dealings in the Republican Val- 
ley had never visited the Beaver Valley, but he 
had changed the location of towns already started 
in the main valley. He was building the town of 
Orleans in opposition to Melrose, because his people 
owned the land on which the town was to stand, and 
Melrose was owned by private parties who did not 
care to sell for a pittance. He had secured an interest 
in the town of Arapahoe, who was contesting the 
county seat question with Beaver City, where the 
two delegates were interested. 

Here was the situation : Vote for Morris and you 
are voting for a great corporation that have interests 
in court directly in opposition to your own interests. 
The contest was warming up. The candidate opposing 
Judge Morris was N. K. Griggs, of Beatrice, and his 
choice for United States senator was Honorable A. S. 
Paddock, also of Beatrice. The system did not seem 
to want this combination, and were straining every 
efifort to defeat it. The delegates and friends of the 
Paddock combination also traveled on free transpor- 
tation to the convention, but it could readily be seen 
that the railroad influence was being used in the other 
direction. 

>l88 



ISuilHing: a il^eto dBmpire 

Neither Griggs nor Paddock had any interests in 
the Republican Valley, nor did they have any financial 
interests backing them from that direction, and the 
Furnas County delegates saw the breaking light on 
the political horizon. Noses had been counted, and 
leaving out the Furnas County delegation Morris was 
elected by one majority, and if these two votes could 
be secured Morris' nomination was assured ; and on 
the other hand the Griggs element was working to 
make sure of these two votes, which as yet had not 
been pledged or promised to anyone, but had kept 
their own counsel, and the members of the conven- 
tion were waiting with bated breath to know what 
these two delegates from the short grass country 
were going to do, for it was now known that on these 
two votes depended the result of this convention, and 
no doubt the election of a United States senator to 
represent the State of Nebraska in the upper house 
of Congress for the next six years. 

The convention was organized and after the pre- 
liminaries were formally disposed of, and the candi- 
dates were put in nomination by eloquent speeches by 
their chosen orators, a ballot was taken, and when 
the clerk called Furnas County, two votes, the two 
delegates from Furnas passed. All other counties 
voted for the candidates of their choice, and by keep- 
ing close watch on the vote it was seen that Morris 
was one ahead without the Furnas County vote. The 
clerk, while there was perfect quiet in that court 
room, again in a clear, distinct voice called again 
Furnas County, two votes, there was no hesitation this 
time. When Tan rose to his feet, and in a clear, 
distinct voice answered, "Two votes for N. K. Griggs, 
of Gage County." 

Cheers for Griggs broke forth from his friends 

189 



l5uilDin0 a Beto Empire 

like the explosion of a powder mill, and pandemonium 
reigned supreme in that court room, and it was diffi- 
cult to sustain order long enough to announce the 
result of the ballot which nominated N. K. Griggs 
for the State senate, and Furnas County had settled 
the contest, which no doubt decided the United States 
senatorship for the next six years. 

Tan and the Captain had come to the convention a 
distance of one hundred and twenty miles with a 
team and a covered wagon, and when the convention 
had adjourned they went on to Lincoln with the 
same conveyance, camping on the prairies at night 
and sleeping in the covered wagon and getting the 
full benefit of the fall rains, the abundance of which 
had never before been seen by the homesteaders of 
western Nebraska or Kansas. 

Everyone with whom they talked inquired anxiously 
as to the general conditions out in the State, and 
whether the people were actually in a suffering condi- 
tion. The State papers were especially making all 
possible efforts to arrive at the actual facts. People 
about Lincoln were as destitute of fuel and provisions 
as they were in the more western counties, but the 
conditions were different. The country here had been 
settled long enough so that people had raised several 
crops, but in the west part of the State the country 
was so new to civilization that but little grain had 
as yet been raised, and the homesteader had exhausted 
the means brought to the country with him which left 
him destitute and helpless. He was willing to work, 
but the difficulty was in finding the work to do. He 
asked no aid or assistance if he could only find the 
employment to work his way through the winter 
and secure feed and seed for the coming spring. 

Tan worked a few days with his team for a lum- 

190 



IBuilDing a il3eto OBmpite 

ber company, but in the meantime put in an appear- 
ance and formal application to the Warden of the 
penitentiary for the promised vacancy when it should 
occur. Hundreds of idle men were in Lincoln look- 
ing for work, and would have been glad to work 
at any kind of work or at any price, if the labor could 
be had, and day after day honest homesteaders were 
looking for work which could not be found. 

Tan seemed a little more fortunate in having a 
few influential friends there who were willing to 
assist him in obtaining employment. Arrangements 
had been made for wintering the team and Tan was 
in a few days notified of a vacancy at the prison, 
which was being held open for him, and about the 
middle of October he appeared within the prison gates 
ready for duty. 

His first orders were to read the rules and to re- 
member them, and was shown where he was to sleep 
on a bunk in the guards' room, and he was to eat 
with the other guards and officers, eat provisions 
cooked and served by convicts. The next morning 
before going on duty he was supplied with a Colt's 
revolver and a needle gun, and given possession of 
a board tower, on a board wall, the tower being 
reached by climbing a ladder from the outside. 

The obstruction, called a wall at that time, was 
neither built of stone, brick or cement. But was sim- 
ply a fence built about twelve feet high of pine 
boards standing on end and nailed to a frame similar 
to a frame for a picket fence, except that it wa' 
higher, and the towers for the guards were small 
octagon houses set up on the board walls that af- 
forded about as much protection from the inclemen- 
cies of the season as a log house would without 
chinking or mortar, and would turn a bullet from a 

191 



gun in the hands of an escaping convict, or his as- 
sistant from the outside, equal to a paper balloon. 
But it was the best the State had at the time, and 
Tan being a grasshopper sufferer and in need of the 
small salary provided by the State, he must accept 
the situation as it was and do his duty. If a con- 
vict should scale the wall or in any way make his 
escape the guard at fault lost his job. The guards 
were a mixed lot of humanity, and among their num- 
ber was one Irishman, one Frenchman, three dis- 
charged regular soldiers, one German, one M. D. just 
out of college, two farmers, one Englishman, and one 
grasshopper sufferer, besides the Warden, his deputy, 
a steward, and a shopkeeper and a couple of inside 
guards. 

With the main prison yet unfinished, and the build- 
ing used as a prison practically in one room on the 
ground floor, a cheap pine lattice work built up inside 
the stone walls of the building, and in this pen of 
lattice work was herded the prisoners of all classes, 
and among whom there was some of the most des- 
perate criminals known to modern civilization, des- 
peradoes who were a terror to the West and known 
as desperadoes throughout the whole country. Yet 
with these conditions and the desperate character of 
the convicts, no man was allowed to escape. 

Tan was from the West, and having been out 
on the buffalo range, was supposed to be a good shot, 
and having seen many wild Indians it was, of course, 
conceded that he was not what would be called a 
coward, so he was placed in a tower on the north- 
west corner of the wall until a more dangerous and 
hazardous place could be found, which proved to be 
on the northeast corner, where it was expected the 
convicts would make a rush for liberty at any time, 

192 



IBuilding a n^etti dBmpire 

using stones and stone hammers to batter down the 
wall, and at least a majority of them make their escape 
on the open prairie. But the hammering down the 
tower and the wall on this corner was avoided by 
Ed. Cochrane, the shopkeeper, causing several wheel- 
barrow loads of chips, or small stones chipped from 
the large ones, to be dumped against the north door 
where it was known the attempt to escape was to be 
made, and this foresight of the shopkeeper saved Tan 
from destruction, and prevented his killing some sixty- 
odd convicts working in the shops. 

One evening a severe wind storm came up accom- 
panied with a terrific downpour of rain. The wind 
was one of those terrific wind storms so familiar to the 
people on the Western plains, and come with such 
force accompanied with a blinding dust storm, and in 
much less time than it takes to record one line of the 
incident, the fence, or board wall fully half the dis- 
tance around the enclosure was down, and strewn 
from the prison yard to the railroad track, half a 
mile away. Some of the convicts were working in 
the shops, and others were in the yard when the 
storm came. Not a single tower on the wall was 
blown down, and the wall guards remained in their 
places, but confusion and consternation reigned su- 
preme among the convicts, and the deputy warden 
had but little difficulty after the rain began to fall 
to put the convicts in line and march them to the 
prison. Again, to the credit of the officers and 
guards, and the lack of nerve or organization by the 
prisoners not a convict escaped. 

The walls of the new prison were being built partly 
by convict labor of stone, with iron grates built in the 
wall for the windows. Convicts were working in 
and about the yards, some cutting stone, some hauling 

193 



'BuilDing a n^eto OBmpire 

away spalls, and some were using derricks for hoist- 
ing stone. The arched front up to the top of the 
first story had been completed and much time had 
been occupied by the best stone cutters to be had, in 
cutting a chain on the stone up the sides and over 
the arched doorway on a ball on either side at the 
base, and one day while the inspectors were looking 
over the work it was discovered that these balls 
and a portion of the chains near the base had been cut 
off with chisel and mallet, but when and by who, 
was never learned, and the results of a thorough in- 
vestigation proved of no avail, and the person, who- 
ever it was, went unpunished for desecrating public 
property. 

One morning as the autumn advanced the men had 
been working on the north wall, but the weather 
was too cold for the mortar and it would freeze while 
being spread, so the men were called off and put to 
work in other places about the yard. During the 
forenoon, after work on the north wall had been 
abandoned, a convict appeared along the wall as if 
looking for something that had been lost or left 
on the works, and Tan was watching his movements, 
hardly thinking he would attempt to make his escape 
between two guards near the noon hour, but quickly 
he swung himself over the window grating and 
climbed to the ground surveying the situation as if 
looking for something left by the workmen, but which 
he found in the nature of a long plank. This he put 
up to the fence nearby with the intention of scaling 
the wall. 

Tan had watched every move of the convict and 
now was certain of the design, and he deliberately 
leveled his gun on the convict with an order to halt, 
which the man wearing the stripes did, after he had 

194 



'BuilDing a il3eto OBmpite 

made sure the guard was in earnest. He was ordered 
forward so the guard could get his number, and an 
inside guard was called to take him to the prison. 
The guard on the other corner never got out of his 
cage, nor did the convict escape, but Tan was called 
to the warden's office and reprimanded for not shoot- 
ing the convict, but after explaining the whole situa- 
tion and the circumstances connected with it, and 
promising faithfully to kill the next convict that 
made a break for liberty, and quietly saying "halt" 
after being killed, he was permitted to resume his 
place as guard, and his little salary moved right 
along as if nothing had happened. But the other 
guard who did not succeed in getting out of his cage 
to assist in preventing the prisoner from scaling the 
wall, lost his job and his salary was stopped that 
day at high twelve. 

The prisoners were all herded together at night in 
the big room or cage made of lattice work before 
described, with an opening all round between the 
cage and the wall, and in this place the prisoners 
were kept except when at work, and in this den of 
desperadoes, composed of thieves, highway robbers, 
burglars and murderers, were hatched many plans 
of escape, but the keeping of one idea ahead of the 
convicts by the officers and guards was all that kept 
the convicts inside this makeshift of a prison. 

On the afternoon of January nth, 1875, the climax 
came, and a mutiny of prisoners seldom, if ever, 
equaled by a gang of desperate convicts was in full 
force with the warden in the city, the deputy warden 
tied up in the shop, and no one to give orders or as- 
sume command. But few of the present residents of 
Nebraska know or have ever heard of the mutiny 
at the penitentiary on January nth, 1875, although it 

195 



IBuiltiing: a JI3etti OBmpite 

was widely published in the State papers at the time, 
and in fact throughout the whole broad land, and went 
down in history as one of the greatest of its kind 
in many years. 

The officers of the prison were William Woodhurst, 
warden; C. J. Nobes, deputy warden; George Cole, 
clerk and bookkeeper, and the guards were E. Col- 
cow, Weaver, Tan Myers, Pat Fanning, Julius 

Grosjean, Allen, W. Copeland, B. B. Freeman, 

John Roe, and two or three others, with C. J. Gould 
and W. W. Abbey, as inspectors, and W. H. B. Stout 
contractor on the new penitentiary building under con- 
struction. There had been trouble brewing among 
the convicts for some time, and by the officers and 
guards being constantly on the watch a break for 
liberty had been avoided until the day mentioned. 

After the dinner hour the convicts in the plot led 
by McWatters, all of whom worked in the old stone 
shop in the east side of the yard, caught and tied Ed. 
Cochran, the shopkeeper, a Mr. Fox, the contractor's 
foreman, and a teamster, and waited for Charlie 
Nobes, the deputy warden, whose custom was to visit 
tlie shop at least once during the forenoon. Nobes 
always looked in at the shop window before entering 
at the door, but on this occasion the weather was 
very cold and the windows were covered with frost, 
so the scene of action on the inside of the shop could 
not be seen from the outside, and Nobes, on entering 
the shop, was caught by the fourteen prisoners who 
had entered into the mutiny, and promptly stripped 
of his outer clothing and tied to an iron post with 
straps taken from the harness on the horses used in 
the yard and shop in moving stone from the yard 
to the shop, and from the shop to the walls. 

McWatters then donned Nobes clothing, blacked 

196 



the sides of his face and his upper lip with the black 
from a stove poker to represent the deputy's black 
side whiskers and moustache, and marched eleven of 
the mutineers to the prison in regular order, armed 
with stone hammers, and were readily admitted to 
the prison, the inside guard not detecting the deception 
until too late. They at once made a rush for the 
armory adjoining the warden's office, and with their 
stone hammers battered down the door and secured all 
the arms and ammunition belonging to the prison, 
except those in the hands of the outside guards. 

The prison at that time was fenced with pine boards 
about twelve feet high, and towers for the outside 
guards were made of the same material and placed 
on the fence or board wall which afforded very little 
protection to the guards against needle gun balls. 

The convicts then made a run for the guards' room, 
and donned citizens' clothing, locking in the cells the 
inside guards, and when they were ready to make 
the break for liberty they shot Julius Grosjean, the 
guard over the gate, one ball going through his coat 
and another lodging in his knee, which he carried as 
long as he lived. 

They attempted to pass out at the east door, which 
was open, but the tower guards had stepped down 
from their shell towers and taken positions behind the 
fence or board wall, and when the attempt was made 
to rush out, a volley of lead was thrown at them, 
causing them to retire in good order. 

They then attempted to unlock the iron doors on the 
north and west, but the inside guards had presence 
of mind enough to give them the wrong keys and 
they were again balked in their attempt to gain their 
liberty. 

In the meantime Geo. Cole, the bookkeeper, came 

197 



IBuilDing a n^ehJ OBmpire 

out of the prison just as the mutineers went in, word 
having been sent him by one of the guards that there 
was something wrong in the shop, and he at once 
took possession of one of Contractor Stout's bareback 
mules and went to town for assistance. 

The legislature was in session, and Warden Wood- 
hurt was found at the capital, who made a quick 
drive to the prison and both branches of the legis- 
lature adjourned, and nearly every member, besides 
hundreds of citizens from Lincoln, were soon on the 
ground, and all seemed willing to do their part. But 
there was no organization and no discipline except 
among the guards, and the few of them who retained 
their presence of mind, aided by their guns and the 
appearance of the crowd, kept the prisoners from 
making their escape, although many shots were fired, 
both by the "ins and outs." 

Deputy Warden Nobes finally untied the straps 
from his wrists during the afternoon, and with the 
aid of a hoe. drove the two convicts away from the 
door who had been left there to guard him, and 
came to the fence, where the writer handed him, 
through a knot hole in the board, a Colt's revolver, 
and with this he drove his former guards to the 
north end of the shop and released Cochran, Fox 
and the teamster. 

We then helped Nobes and Cochran over the fence 
with ladders, but Fox and the driver remained in the 
shop all night and until the mutineers surrendered 
the next morning. 

Governor Furnas, after consulting with the ofifi- 
cials and members of the legislature, wired General 
Ord, in command of the Department of the Platte at 
Omaha, for a company of soldiers, who arrived about 
midnight, under command of Major Randall, and this 

198 



IBuilDing a iI3eUJ OBmpitc 

had a quieting effect on the mutineers, and no further 
attempt was made to escape, although they were 
boisterous and fired several shots during the remain- 
der of the night, and they surrendered to Inspector 
Gould at nine o'clock the morning of the I2th, who 
went in and locked them up. 

During all this time Mrs. Woodhurst was a prisoner 
and rendered valuable assistance to the officers and 
guards on the outside by passing out through the 
windows messages and signals, and had it not been 
for her arguments with the desperadoes they would 
have burned the prison, thinking by this means they 
could escape through the excitement. 

McWatters was in for murder for a term of twenty- 
one years and was the leader of the mutiny. But 
Garey and Elder were the two bravest men in the 
mutiny. Others as I remember them were Quinn Bo- 
hannen, grand larceny, five years; Tom O'Neil, mur- 
der, from Kearney County; Thomas Kinney, robbery, 
from Douglas County ; O. P. Wright, highway rob- 
bery, from Saline County, and John Innings, robbery, 
from Saline County, were among the mutineers. 
Garey and Elder were from Otoe County. The other 
names have passed my memory. 

The convicts at one time threatened to put Mrs. 
Woodhurst to the front and make a rush for liberty, 
but the plucky woman defied their attempt, and by 
her nerve this plan was frustrated and finally aban- 
doned. During the evening, in an unguarded moment, 
Mrs. Woodhurst obtained possession of four of their 
guns and a quantity of ammunition, and locked the 
guns up in a wardrobe and the cartridges she put 
in a slop pail. 

McWatters had his neck grazed with a bullet 
from the outside which would have taken his life had 

199 



'Building a j^eto OBmpite 

it been two inches to the right, and an iron bar across 
a window saved Tom Kinney from death, but aside 
from the wound received by Julius Grosjean and an 
accidental shot in the foot received by George Cole, 
the bookkeeper, no one was seriously injured, and 
not a convict escaped. McWatters was afterwards 
shot and killed by Hugh Blaney, who succeeded Tan 
Myers as guard, and who has since died. 

An investigation by the legislature followed the 
mutiny, which was in many respects a farce, it being 
a one-sided affair and in the interest of Woodhurst's 
dismissal, the committee neglecting to call in wit- 
nesses who had no interest in the matter, and took 
the evidence of the worst criminals in the State as 
more valuable than that of the officers of the prison. 
Woodhurst finally retired and Governor Garber, who 
was inaugurated as governor on January the 12th, 
the day after the mutiny, appointed his successor, who 
acted as warden for a time, but was found to be a 
defaulter for several thousand dollars and departed 
for parts unknown. 

This will be a day long remembered by those who 
took part in the exciting scenes of the mutiny, and 
if any of the old guards are living and scan this 
article they will recognize the incidents of that mem- 
orable day, and call to mind the worst criminals of 
the day who originated one of the greatest mutinies 
of modern times, and yet the most insignificant fail- 
ure of its kind ever attempted. 

Gradually the mutineers were put to work, first 
being put in heavy irons, so they would be hampered 
in any attempt to escape. The mutiny, with the 
dismal failure to escape, had been very discouraging 
to the convicts and they readily quieted down to 
the regular routine of everyday prison life and disci- 

200 



15nilhim a jeetti Empire 

pline, but the mutiny had been a trying ordeal on 
the officers and guards, and when the mutiny was 
over and quiet restored it was discovered that some 
of the guards were totally unfit for duty and too 
nervous to be trusted with a gun. One had dis- 
charged a revolver while it was in his pocket through 
his nervous excitement. Another had confidentially 
told Tan that he knew he was too nervous to remain 
on duty, and believed he would resign, but Tan ad- 
vised him to try it a little longer, and asked the deputy 
warden to put him out with the team a day or two 
to quiet his nerves, which he did, but it was no use, 
and he decided to resign and go back to the farm in 
Richardson County. The two soldiers from the regu- 
lar army soon quit their jobs, and others took their 
places, but most of the guards remained on duty, con- 
sidering the mutiny one of the events of a lifetime 
with no particular significance. Tan stayed with the 
job until the first of March, when he resigned and re- 
turned to the homestead. 

After the legislative committee had gotten through 
with their farce and had taken depositions of the 
worst criminals of the West who cared nothing for 
their oath, and had no reputation at stake, and who 
had refused to call in as witnesses such men as Ed. 
Cochran and Tan Myers, who knew the situation 
perfectly, and placed all responsibility on Warden 
Woodhurst, and in fear of losing his place, discharged 
the deputy warden and some of the guards, which 
proved his undoing, and the prison was put tempo- 
rarily in charge of Charlie Gould, the resident in- 
spector, who was soon relieved by Captain Wyman. 

While the tumult was in progress at the peniten- 
tiary homesteaders all over the State were drawing 
aid, generously donated by the people of the East, 

201 



13uilDin9: a n^eto OBmpite 

and while Tan was earning a little money to be used 
in another attempt to raise a crop in the new country, 
others were idling away their time and living on 
public charity, which, under general conditions, would 
not have been accepted. But this was a scourge, a 
calamity, an act of providence which could not be 
avoided, and for which no person was responsible. 
Stout, able and willing men, who were able to per- 
form manual labor and would have gladly accepted 
work of any kind or at any price, but it could not 
be had. Grasshopper sufferers from the West were 
in search of work everywhere, and in the devastated 
country no work was to be had, and in the more 
fortunate districts east of the Missouri River there 
was occasionally a man needing help, but the appli- 
cants for a solitary job came in fives, tens and twen- 
ties. Calamity had '^oine to these people as a fire, 
flood or tornado, and destroyed the sustenance of a 
people, that under ordinary circumstances, were self- 
supporting, but they had been visited by a dire 
calamity which made them dependent as paupers, and 
as helpless as infants. 

It was truly humiliating to these strong, willing 
hands who, had conditions been different, would have 
laughed to scorn the proffer of aid from a generous 
public. The aid was offered and reluctantly taken 
by a majority of the people, while there was a few 
who took all they could get and would have taken 
their neighbor's share also if it were possible to do so. 

Aid consisting of seed for planting and feed for 
the teams was issued in addition to the other articles 
of relief, and the homesteaders were again placed in 
a position to make a new start toward farming and 
putting himself in a position to be self-sustaining. As 
the spring advanced work progressed on the home- 

202 



steads with willing hands by those who had remained 
on their claims, or who had gone for the winter and 
returned, but many had gone never to return, some 
abandoning their new homes and had gone to the 
mountains for work, and others had gone to the Pa- 
cific coast, never expecting to see the wilds of western 
Nebraska or Kansas again. 

Rains came and moistened the warm earth and 
vegetation came forth in abundance, and the new 
empire produced crops that would have been the 
pride of any of the older settled States, and the home- 
steaders were well paid for their summer's work, 
and plenty reigned supreme in the land of the wild 
West both for man and beast, and the experience of 
the past few years had proven clearly that the smaller 
grains could be grown successfully, but the hot 
winds, drouth and grasshoppers were detrimental to 
raising Indian corn successfully. 

Captain McKee had said, confidentially, "That this 
country would be all right if we could only have a 
little more rain," and Reverend Yamo replied that, 
"Purgatory would be a better country if they had 
plenty of water," and both statements were no doubt 
true, especially of western Nebraska. 

One of the settlers in the West had become dis- 
couraged with the conditions in the West, and espe- 
cially of the wind and dust, and returned to one of 
the Eastern States during the grasshopper trouble, and 
was taken very sick, and after a time his condition 
became very serious and his life was given up as a 
hopeless case, but the physician in charge decided to 
give him one more chance for his life, and put him 
in a dirt bath, which soon revived the patient, and 
on regaining consciousness he found himself covered 
with dirt, and at once told his friends who were 

203i 



IBuilDinff a Jl^eto OBmpite 

around what was supposed to be his death bed, that he 
was all right and would soon be well, and how glad 
he was to be back in Nebraska. Suffice it to say that 
he soon recovered and told his friends that when 
he first began to regain consciousness he really thought 
he was in a Nebraska dust storm. 

Tan and his friends had thought many times of 
the advice given by Captain Garber and others about 
going too far West. He had told the people going 
farther west that there was less rainfall, more hot 
winds and more danger from the Indians. But the 
Indian they had seen practically settled by placing 
the hostile Indians on reservations, to be properly 
guarded by United States soldiers, but the hot winds 
from the southwest sweeping i ver the barren deserts 
of western Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska, 
was far beyond a solutior.. No doubt they had swept 
over this desolate country for ages, and the glaring 
heat of the sun on the sandy desert, and the short, 
dry bufifalo grass, add heat to the surface and fury 
to the wind, and what could a settlement of home- 
steaders do to stay the winds in their withering heat 
and destruction as they passed over these vast plains, 
carrying the fine sands and dust in their passage 
northward, to be brought back again in the cold, 
chilly blasts of fall and winter? 

If the Government could only be induced to build 
storage dams in the canons and draw? of the south- 
west to store water flowing from the melting mountain 
snows, and the valley rains when there was a sur- 
plus, it would no doubt temper the hot winds, cause 
more evaporation, and consequently more rain in 
this dry country. But could this be done, and could 
the great Government of the United States be in- 
duced to expend millions of dollars in reclaiming a 

204 



'BuilDing a Jl5eto OBmpite 

country, which a few years ago had been called the 
Great American Desert, and which now was being 
occupied by venturesome homesteaders, who were 
attempting to supersede the Indian, the Government 
scout, and the buffalo? 

About this time Tan Myers was advocating a propo- 
sition that a law should be passed compelling every 
settler who had a draw on his claim to build a dam 
in which to store the surplus water that flows to the 
Gulf during every hard rain, and for the Government 
to, in like manner, look after the large canons. Then 
as the ground becomes cultivated it will better retain 
the moisture, and every forty acres put in cultivation 
would be equal to damming a draw, which with Gov- 
ernment aid it was believed that this theory would, in 
a short time, produce plenty of moisture for all prac- 
tical purposes, and would make a fine agricultural 
country, from the barren plains of the whole West. 
This theory, however, hardly reached the eastern bor- 
ders of the States interested, and the draws were 
not dammed, but who in traveling over these track- 
less plains, before practical civilization, that did not 
damn the draws ? Who is there in the West, crossing 
from one divide to another, that did not damn the 
draws? Who is there, wanting to go from one place 
to another, with no road or path except the buffalo 
trail, that did not damn the draws? This matter 
was thoroughly discussed by the settlers, and the rep- 
resentatives in Congress were asked to use their in- 
fluence along this line, and the legislature was asked 
to pass a law compelling every homesteader to dam 
a draw, but at the time it claimed no attention of the 
wise lawmakers of the country. 

Senator A. S. Paddock at the time of his election 
to the United States senate, began the preliminary 

205 



OBuiltiing a Betu (Empire 

work on a "pure food" bill and devoted a good por- 
tion of his time for the twelve years he was in the 
senate to pass his pet "pure food" bill but he was 
unsuccessful in the attempt, but in recent years the 
members of Congress have "seen the light" and have 
spent millions of dollars in water storage for the 
purpose of reclaiming the great West, and the enforce- 
ment of a pure food bill passed by the wisdom of 
Congress, both measures being first agitated by peo- 
ple of the State of Nebraska when it was in its 
infancy. It was thought at first that the idea would 
work out all right, but it was of such stupendous 
magnitude at the time that Congress hooted the idea 
and said, "Damn the draws." 

There was yet millions of acres of good tillable 
land farther east in the rain belt that could be bought 
at a very low price and on long payments, and the 
progress of civilization to the extreme West, crowd- 
ing the Indian from his hunting grounds, and the 
buffalo from their range, had but Httle sympathy 
in the East, and damming the draws was scoffed by 
the lawmakers of the Eastern States, and was car- 
ried to the extreme of being used as a by-word. 
"Damming the draws" and the "pure food law" were 
classed together as being unwise and impracticable 
by the same Congress and the same body of law- 
makers, who in after years saw the wisdom of such 
measures and made laws putting both ideas into laws 
and in practical operation, as measures of great im- 
portance to the American people. 



206 



CHAPTER XV? 

The Post Office Robbery. 

The mail was now being brought in with a two- 
horse covered hack or spring wagon from Orleans, 
which had outlived Melrose, and was the principal 
town in the valley so far West. The mail arrived 
in the evening and departed in the early morning 
about seven o'clock. 

One morning on opening the store in which the 
post office was kept, it was discovered that one of 
the back windows of the building had been forced 
open and the office entered through this opening from 
the outside. Petty thefts had been going on for 
some time, houses had been entered and plundered 
during the absence of the owners, articles of value 
had been stolen from the stores, and tools and imple- 
ments had been taken, but nothing as bold as a 
post office robbery had been undertaken in this part 
of the newly settled country since the white man had 
invaded the Indians' hunting ground, but here was 
a crime committed in the little town against the Gov- 
ernment of the United States ihat would be investi- 
gated by the post office authorities, and if the perpe- 
trators of the crime were apprehended they would be 
handled by the United States courts. 

Further investigation by the postmaster developed 
the fact that the window had been forced open with 
tools taken from the blacksmith shop, and a shoe 
knife had been used to cut open the mail bag, and a 
large number of letters had been torn open, and all 
registered mail had been stolen. Stamps, stamped en- 

207 



'BuUDing a Ji3eto Cmpite 

velopes and postal cards were all gone, and in fact 
nothing of value left in the office. Further develop- 
ments showed the blacksmith shop had been forced 
open and the tools taken for the purpose of breaking 
open the post office window. 

The shoemaker soon appeared on the scene and 
stated the shoe knife used was his and it was soon 
learned that his shoe shop was still locked, and the 
windows were securely fastened, and no one but the 
shoemaker had access to the shop or a key that would 
open it, so people began to look wise and talk in 
pairs or in small groups very confidentially, and pub- 
licly wondered how this knife, which the shoemaker 
claimed as his, happened to be in the post office, and 
no one but the owner identify the knife as his prop- 
erty, which he frankly acknowledged was his, and 
yet his shop was intact and apparently had not been 
molested. 

Suspicion began at once to rest on the shoemaker, 
and public sentiment was decidedly prejudiced against 
him, and it became the general opinion that he was 
the guilty party. He was a gambler, a sport, and 
an expert at the shell game, and had been known to 
raise a two dollar bill to a twenty and sell it for ten 
dollars. He worked at shoemaking, but his chosen 
profession was gambling, and his deepest study was 
to get something for nothing. All these facts were 
known and, of course, his reputation in the community 
was not the best. His past record in the East had 
followed him when he came to the land of the home- 
steader. 

The sheriff quietly worked on the theory that other 
parties had done the work, and had purposely stolen 
the shoemaker's knife and used it in cutting the mail 
bags, leaving it in the office to cast suspicion on the 

208 



IBuilDing a Ji^eto OBmpire 

shoemaker. If he was guilty why did he admit the 
knife was his? Yet the postmaster and the citizens 
generally believed him guilty, but the sheriff and a 
few of his confidential friends believed the guilt laid 
elsewhere, with the result that no arrests were made 
and the guilty man, or men, were still at large. A 
post office inspector visited the place and made an 
investigation, but returned to Omaha empty-handed 
and no wiser than when he came. 

The robbery had been a success and as yet no ar- 
rests had been made and the guilty parties were quietly 
enjoying the fruits of their successful robbery. The 
event had become as a matter of history in the new 
country, no one had suflfered but the Government, 
no prospect of bringing the guilty parties to justice, 
and was beginning to pass as one of the circumstances 
of a lifetime. A new supply of stamped envelopes, 
stamps and postal cards had been furnished by the 
department at Washington to replace the ones stolen, 
when, to the surprise of everybody, the post office 
was again robbed in a similar manner as before, and 
all the valuables taken from the office, including 
stamps, envelopes, cards and the registered mail. ; 

There was snow on the ground at the time of the 
last robbery, but the snow had been tramped in every 
direction until tracking a thief in the snow was a 
difficult matter, and other means of tracing the thief 
or thieves must be adopted. There was one Jim Wil- 
son living there at the time who had registered a letter 
the day previous to be taken out on the early morning 
hack, saying it contained thirty dollars which he was 
sending to his mother in New Jersey, and this letter, 
with many others, was taken with the registered mail. 
Wilson claimed this was about all the money he had, 
and the people of the comm.unity sympathized with 

209 



OBuiltiing a Jl^eUi OBmpire 

him and felt sorry for him in his misfortune. The 
people were now fully aroused that the post office 
should be robbed twice in three weeks, and no more 
was known as to the guilty party or parties than 
when it was first robbed three weeks ago, but every- 
body was talking of the robbery, and but little else was 
occupying the minds of the people at the time. Jim 
Wilson mingled with the crowd and talked freely 
with all in regard to the robbery and the loss of his 
money, and Tom Jones, his most intimate friend, was 
untiring in his efforts to run down the guilty parties 
who would come into a quiet, peaceable community, 
and rob the post office, and remarks accusing the 
shoemaker-gambler of the robbery were now more 
frequent than on the former occasion, and the belief 
that he was the guilty party became more general. 
Wilson and Jones were very positive in their belief 
that the shoemaker was guilty, and used every oppor- 
tunity to impress this fact on the minds of the people. 

Tan talked the matter over confidentially with the 
sheriff, who were both of the opinion that the shoe- 
maker was not guilty of the robbery and that there 
was no evidence in sight warranting the suspicion 
that he was guilty of the crime. Wilson had been 
staying with a family living in a house joining 
town by the name of Phelps. Mr. Phelps was inter- 
viewed by Tan and the sheriff as to Wilson's where- 
abouts on the nights of the robberies, and Mr. Phelps 
declared positively that Wilson was at his house on 
both nights and could not have possibly gone away 
from the house and returned without his knowing 
it, and the idea of his committing the crime was ridi- 
culed, and there could be no possibility of his guilt. 

The sheriff and Tan walked away with no consola- 
tion from this source, but before leaving Mr. Phelps 

2IO 



IBuillrinjjra il3eUJ €mpire 

advised him to examine his oil can and his door 
hinges, which he agreed to do, saying that the com- 
mon hinges on the rough door always creaked as the 
door was opened and shut and this convinced him 
that Wilson could not have been out of the house 
either time the office had been robbed. 

Phelps went home and soon returned for a further 
interview with the sheriff and Tan, and excitedly told 
them that the hinges to the door had been greased 
and they opened and shut without the least noise, a 
fact which he had not noticed until the matter had 
been called to his attention. 

Myers believed that Wilson had robbed the post 
office on both occasions, and that he alone had com- 
mitted the crime, although a glow of suspicion was 
cast on his friend Jones, and reasoned with the sheriff 
that Wilson had dropped in there a total stranger a 
year before, no one knew him, nor did anyone know 
anything of his past record or his history, and it 
was not known that he had a friend or acquaintance 
in the West. He claimed to have come from New 
Jersey, but we only had his word for it. About the 
time Wilson appeared on the scene, Tom Jones, also 
a total stranger, came to the new West, and it was not 
long until they had homesteaded adjoining claims 
and were usually seen together. No one knew then 
anything about the past history of either. Wilson or 
Jones, who they were or where they had come from, 
except their own statements, and although Mr. Phelps 
had been quite positive in his opinion that Wilson 
could not have left the small house in which they 
lived on the nights of the robberies without its being 
known. Tan reasoned that he could, and when the 
greased hinges was called to the attention of Mr. 
Phelps he had somewhat changed his mind. The 

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'BuilDing a Jl3eto OBmpire 

shoe knife left in the post office he reasoned was only 
done for the purpose of directing suspicion to the 
shoemaker. 

Wilson and Jones had been met on the roads at 
night on several occasions with no visible excuse, and 
while there was no apparent evidence against these 
parties the sheriff and Tan had agreed in their minds 
that the robbery of the post office would eventually 
be traced to these parties. 

The postmaster thought differently and secured the 
arrest of the shoemaker through a warrant issued 
by the United States commissioner at Bloomington, 
and he was arrested by a Deputy United States Mar- 
shal and taken before the commissioner for investiga- 
tion. The shoe knife and his general reputation was 
about the only evidence against him. He was shown 
up to the commissioner as a gambler, but there was 
no evidence against him of robbery and he was dis- 
charged. 

Time gradually wore along with no evidence to 
justify any further arrests, and Wilson and Jones 
mailed letters frequently, and it was noticed that 
they bought no postage stamps, but they were not 
molested. Houses were frequently robbed by being 
entered while the occupants were temporarily absent 
and various articles stolen. Articles were also missed 
from the stores, and who the guilty parties were that 
was doing all this petty pilfering was a mystery 
yet unsolved. The man, or men, who had robbed the 
post office were yet unknown and unpunished. The 
few in the confidence of the sheriff were confident 
that Wilson and Jones had committed the robbery, 
or knew something about it, while the postmaster and 
the general public were still of the opinion that the 
shoemaker was guilty, although the United States 

212 




CO 
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H 

75 
CQ 
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'ISuilDing a Jl3eUi OBmpite 

Commissioner had discharged him for the want of 
evidence to convict. The post office robbery was grad- 
ually passing from view and becoming an event of 
the past and other things were occupying the attention 
of the people. 

After the last part of the winter and the summer 
had passed and it came time to gather the crop of 
corn, a homesteader came in one day to consult 
the county judge and the sheriff, to whom he stated 
that someone the previous night had stolen a load 
of corn from his crib, and he had followed the trail 
of the wagon across the dry buffalo grass for several 
miles, when it had turned to a sod house out three 
miles from town. A complaint was filed with the 
judge accusing the occupants of the sod house with 
the theft of the corn, and asking that a search war- 
rant be issued. The judge responded to the prayer 
of the petitioner and a warrant was issued command- 
ing the sheriff to search the premises of one Jim 
Wilson, occupied also by one Tom Jones, for the 
stolen corn or other stolen property, and if found, to 
arrest Jim Wilson and Tom Jones and bring them into 
court. 

The sheriff quietly informed Tan of having the 
warrant in his possession, and expressed the hope 
that now he might be able to develop some of the 
many small crimes and misdemeanors committed in 
the vicinity within the past year or more. Tan ad- 
vised the sheriff to use that search warrant "to the 
limit," and give the premises a general overhauling, 
and to be sure that everything in the house and about 
the premises were carefully looked over. 

The search was made by the sheriff and his two 
assistants with the man who lost the corn in the com- 
pany to identify his property. The corn stolen the 

213 



ISuilDing a K3eto OBmpitc 

night before was found in a shed near the house, 
and Wilson and Jones were at once placed under ar- 
rest, and an attempt made to complete the search of 
the premises, to which Wilson and Jones entered 
a vigorous protest, telling the sheriff he had no right 
to extend the search after finding the corn, but the 
protest only convinced the sheriff that the search 
should be completed, which he did. 

In the house and barn he found stolen articles of 
all descriptions from a pocket knife to a grindstone ; 
wrenches, chains, dishes, shovels, carpenter tools of 
all kinds, shoes, clothing, blacksmith tools, house- 
hold goods of all kinds, some articles new and some 
were old, and in one corner of the house stood an 
innocent-looking barrel covered over with boards and 
used as a stand; but with its simplicity it had a 
suspicious look to the sheriff and he concluded to 
open it, and there carefully packed away in that inno- 
cent-looking barrel used as a stand was the results 
of two post office robberies, consisting of stamps, 
cards, stamped envelopes and general post office sup- 
plies sufficient to establish a fair-sized post office. 
The shoemaker had been vindicated and exonerated 
from all blame in the robbery of the office. The pris- 
oners were taken into court together with the postal 
supplies and three big wagon loads of other stolen 
plunder. 

It was thought best to let the United States au- 
thorities prosecute the prisoners for the robbery of 
the post office, and they were turned over to a Deputy 
United States Marshal and taken to Omaha, where 
they were tried and sent to the penitentiary for rob- 
bing the mails. The other plunder gathered from this 
little homestead was stored in a livery barn, and 
most of it was claimed by merchants and citizens as 

214 



'Bull Ding a il^etti OBmpite 

stolen property, and the articles remaining unclaimed 
were sold at auction after a few months on Wilson's 
order. The little gang was broken up, petty thieving 
ceased, and the post office was no more molested. 

It has been a noted fact in all new countries that 
the criminal element will follow civilization, being 
driven from their usual haunts in the East by the 
officers of the law, they seek new fields in which to 
operate among strangers, and pose as law-abiding citi- 
zens until their acts become so bold, or an act of bad 
judgment brings them to justice. 

By this time the new West was beginning to as- 
sume the importance of the older sections of the 
country farther east. The Indians had been driven 
farther west step by step, and finally to the reservation 
by the slaughter of the buffalo and other wild game, 
leaving the plains desolate and devoid of game. The 
remaining herds of wild horses had been captured, 
and they were now being used as domestic animals. 
A few herds of young buffalo were being propagated 
with domestic animals, and some were worked as oxen 
on the farms. Schools and churches had been estab- 
lished in this broad new land. A homesteader had 
been elected governor for the second term, and one 
of the newest counties had decided indirectly who 
should represent the State in the United States sen- 
ate. Pilferers, post office robbers, and horse thieves 
had been run down, and were serving terms in the 
penitentiaries or the buffalo' grass growing over their 
graves. Men of merit and integrity were holding the 
positions of trust. Aid had been donated by the gen- 
erous people of the East to tide the homesteaders over 
an unforeseen and unavoidable calamity. Many secret 
societies had been organized in the new West, in- 
cluding the Grange, purely a farmers' organization. 

2I5J 



'BuilDing a il3etn Cmpite 

New judicial districts had been established by the 
adoption of the new constitution in 1875, and judges 
elected to preside in the courts of the new counties 
where no courts had ever been held before. This 
was a new departure from the provisions of the old 
constitution, which provided for three district judges, 
and these three judges composed the supreme court of 
the State. 

The judges in the western counties had many vex- 
ing problems to solve. County seat contests in their 
various forms were to be settled in a majority of the 
frontier counties, criminals who had drifted into this 
new country, like the quail, mink, and the prairie 
chicken following up civilization were to be dealt 
with, and the newly elected judges elected in their 
respective districts realized that they were making- 
judicial history for future generations, and that many 
legal questions, some of them entirely new to them, 
would be up for decisions, and many of them would 
eventually go to the supreme court for final hearing, 
and that the courts of this new country would be 
growing to more importance every year. 

In a judicial district of southwestern Nebraska, 
extending from Clay County on the east to the Colo- 
rado line on the west, and from the Kansas line on 
the south to the uninhabited country north of the 
Union Pacific railroad on the north, and in this dis- 
trict was elected a judge who soon became well known 
in the State, and in a few years was talked of through- 
out the nation. His opinions were his own, and his 
characteristics were different in many ways from oth- 
ers. He was honest in every sense of the word, a 
woman hater, positive in his decisions, and always 
on time, and a terror to all evildoers. He invariably 
emphasized the word economy in the managements 

216 



'Bull Ding a il3eto Cmpite 

of the courts and the holding of juries. If court was 
called for a certain day and hour you could be sure 
that at the exact time specified he was in his seat 
with the order: "Sheriff, call court," and it was ex- 
pected that everybody was ready for business, yet 
he was just to everyone and had no favorites. He 
was opposed to grand juries, and on one occasion he 
gave the following charge to a grand jury which had 
been called for a term of court in one of the western 
counties : 

"Gentlemen of the grand jury, you are a relic of 
the dark ages. In the ancient days of one-man mon- 
archical power, possibly they were desirable in the 
protection of liberty for the individual, but now con- 
ditions have changed, and you are no longer a neces- 
sity, but inasmuch as the constitution of the State 
has authorized you, the legislature of this State has 
constituted you, I am bound to recognize you as a 
branch of this court. But I charge you that if any of 
you prolong your session longer than is absolutely 
necessary, for the purpose of augmenting your per 
diem, thus becoming a useless expense to the county, I 
will at once discharge you as a set of public plunder- 
ers and grafters. You will retire to your rooms ac- 
companied by the bailiff and transact what little busi- 
ness you have to do with all convenient speed." 

At one time he was to hold a regular term of court 
at Alma, and he was promptly on hand as usual, and 
on convening court he called twenty cases on the 
docket, but no one seemed to be ready for trial. He 
looked over the court room and at the attorneys, say- 
ing: "The jury is discharged. Sheriff, adjourn court 
till the fall term," with the remark that perhaps the 
attorneys would be ready by that time. 

At another time when Sidney was a wide open 

217 



"BuilDing a Jl^eto (Empire 

town, and outfitting point for the Black Hills and 
many cattle ranches, two important criminal cases 
were tried, one of the defendants being accused of 
arson, and the other for murder, and while the evi- 
dence was positively in favor of conviction, but the 
jury had been "fixed," and they were acquitted by the 
jury, which very much displeased the judge. The next 
for trial was a boy, seventeen years old, without home 
or friends, for stealing a twenty-dollar pony, and 
he was promptly convicted. The judge looked over 
the court room, and in his sarcastic manner told the 
people "that any community that would turn a man 
loose who had wilfully burned his neighbor's property, 
and another that had committed a cold-blooded mur- 
der, ought to have a horse thief with them," and 
turning to the boy, said : "Young man, go your way ; 
I will never pass sentence on you." 

A man had sued a farmer for a job of breaking 
prairie, which the farmer had refused to pay on 
account of the bad work the man had done for him, 
and the case was on trial, and a portion of the evi- 
dence was in when court adjourned until eight o'clock 
the next morning. The judge came pufiing in promptly 
on time as usual, and when the attorney began to call 
witnesses for the completion of the trial, the judge 
said : "No more evidence is necessary in this case, 
as I have been out to see the job and must say it is 
the worst job of breaking that I ever saw, and the 
case is dismissed." 

This was the same judge that tried the Olive broth- 
ers for the murder of Mitchell and Ketchum. Olives 
had a cattle ranch in Custer County, and the other 
two men had taken homesteads in the vicinity of the 
cattle ranch, and the Olives did not want any attempt 
at fanning in that vicinity, and trumped up a charge 

2l8, 



'BuilDing a il5eto OBmpfte 

of cattle stealing against the two homesteaders, and 
murdered them in the most brutal manner, and it was 
said that they saturated the clothing of Mitchell and 
Ketchum and burned them after being killed. The 
Olive brothers were wealthy and men of influence, 
but were arrested and brought to trial in Adams 
County, and finally convicted of manslaughter. During 
the trial threats of vengeance was made against the 
judge and the prosecuting attorney, and many extra 
deputy sheriffs were sworn in to prevent trouble, and 
the judge sat during that trial with a big revolver on 
his desk, to assist in protecting the dignity of the 
court. These men were finally convicted and landed 
in the penitentiary, but their money and influence got 
a new hearing in the case and by an order of the 
supreme court they were sent back to Custer County 
for a new trial ; but the prosecuting witnesses had 
abandoned the country, and no one was left to push 
the prosecution, and no one appeared against them, 
and they were released and went unpunished. 

Some of the judge's decisions were reversed by the 
supreme court, and as many of the inhabitants thought 
too many of them were being reversed, but the judge 
kept right along doing his duty, and at one of the 
county seats in his district during a term of court 
two cattle and horse thieves, who were being held in 
jail, were taken out and hung to a railroad bridge by 
a mob, and the next morning the judge, through curi- 
osity, went to see the bodies before they were taken 
down, and remarked there was two cases the supreme 
court would not reverse. 

Enough could be said of the experience of this man 
presiding over the frontier courts to fill a volume, but 
will only say that he was the right man in the right 
place, and brought order out^ of confusion, and in a 

219 



few years cattle and horse stealing was not popular. 

Crimes of all kinds decreased as the population in- 
creased and much of this was due to Judge William 
Gaslin, who was born in the State of Maine, but 
chose to make a home in the far West and help to 
build a new empire and to make much of its judicial 
history. 

Scenes had been witnessed in this new country 
that would never be seen by future generations. The 
wild game, the Government scouts, the roving bands 
of hostile Indians, the cattle trail, the cowboys, were 
now of the past and would be seen no more. They 
had in a few short years become a history to be told 
and read to oncoming generations. 

Here we leave Tan with his little family and many 
associates, including the minister from Missouri, who 
had endured the hardships of a frontier life in the 
wild West, but were now enjoying the fruits of their 
labor and experience in more commodious dwellings, 
and surrounding happy firesides. 

The frontier experience of the past is now a his- 
tory, and reads like a vivid dream. The hostile 
Indian is no more to be seen traveling the dismal 
trail of the forest, or following the path of the buffalo 
on the vast plains of the West. The fearful prairie 
fires, dreaded alike by emigrant and homesteader, 
has been checked by civilization and the cultivation 
of the soil. The reckless destruction of the thousands 
upon thousands of wild buffalo, deer, antelope and 
elk has driven the red man to the reservation, and 
the white man to the plow. The cattle trail is extinct, 
and the cowboy is no more. The hand of civilization 
is now to be seen, where a few years ago the wild 
scenes of an untamed frontier were only visible. The 
telephone has taken the place of the horseback mes- 

220 



'BuilDing a Beto OBmpite 

senger. The railroads have replaced the freight 
wagons and the stage coaches, and the automobiles are 
now traveling the trails blazed by the driver of the 
ox teams, and a day's journey in the early '70s, when 
this new empire was opened to civilization, is to-day 
a thirty minutes' task. All these wild scenes of a 
few years ago have disappeared and civilization has 
replaced them. Even the cowboys of the plains are 
of the past, and the scenes once so common in the 
wild West are no more. 



THE END, 



221 



|>EC 24 19^0 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



